Jonathan Swift’s political history as a pamphleteer with the Tories and Whigs during the early eighteenth century led him to write satire mocking government, religious beliefs, and anyone who didn’t share his same views on various topics. The reader is privy to Swift’s criticism of English government and society from the beginning of the story when Gulliver visits Lilliput. Gulliver is faced with the minute people, called Lilliputians, who he describes as little people with little ambition. Swift contrasts the noble actions of Gulliver with those of the unjust emperor by describing Gulliver as sparing the lives of the Lilliputians when the emperor’s palace catches on fire. He does not walk to the ocean for water, killing Lilliputians on the way, but instead pees on the palace to stifle the fire. The emperor does not view Gulliver’s acts as brave even though he saved the palace from burning to the ground and saves the lives of those inside.
Swift is also able to criticize the religious beliefs of both the Lilliputians and England as a whole in the first story by describing the election of ministers in Lilliput by physical standards, such as their ability to walk a tightrope or stick jumping. If they are able to consistently perform these physical tasks then their rank of minister is safe. After making a mockery of the religious qualifications of the ministry, he satirizes the ongoing religious war in England by referencing the war involving the people of Liliput and their neighbor, Blefuscu. His allusion between the “High Heels” and “Low Heels” to the political parties of the Whigs and Tories suggests to the reader that he views both wars as trivial and meaningless. The High Heels are compared to the conservative Tories and the Low Heels to the progressive Whigs. The names Swift uses, “High Heels and Low Heels” suggest the only difference in the two ideologies is the height of their heels. All of these underlying references are present in his first voyage and are a product of Swift’s personal unrest with the political parties of England during that time. He is illustrating the petty differences between the two parties, showing the Lilliputians as bickering over the size of their shoe heels, and going to war with their closest neighbors because of a disagreement over how to eat an egg. The different underlying cultural, political and religious references are frequent throughout Gulliver’s Travels, starting with his first visit to Lilliput.
