Lilliputian – definition: extremely small : tiny
English: Illustration to Gulliver’s Travels, by J.J. Grandville. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels, he created several believable and complete societies, incorporating hierarchies, laws and histories for each. It is, however, the Lilliputian world that became the favored land in the eyes of the public. Cartoons and movies have been made of Gulliver’s travel to Lilliput omitting his subsequent journeys.
Gulliver also traveled to Brobdingnag, a land of giants, Laputa, a floating island inhabited by theoreticians and Houyhnhnms, populated by rational thinking horses. These perfectly developed societies have been, for the most part, lost to the public.
In reading about these other lands, we realize they brought understanding to Gulliver of ‘human’ nature and was actually a vehicle for Swift’s own views on society. To create such well defined worlds is what every writer strives for.
Wouldn’t you love your world or character to become a dictionary term? If only we could all achieve this feat.
When writing our stories,we delve into the fine details of our characters and the worlds they inhabit. Many of these details never actually reach the page but are vitally important. Without them we would not understand how our characters react and what their restrictions are, whether physical, emotional or spiritual.
