Study Questions CH 1-3
1. How does Gulliver get to Laputa?
2. How does Laputa differ from a normal country?
3. How do the people differ from those in most countries?
4. What unusual kind of servants do the better-off Laputans have?
5. What is unusual about Laputan food and clothing?
6. What does the King of Laputa ask Gulliver about England?
7. What makes the island fly?
8. How do the Laputans put down rebellions?
9. What have Laputan astronomers discovered?
10. How were rebels successful in one case against Laputa?
Answers CH 1-3
1. Gulliver gets to Laputa after being cast adrift on a small boat by pirates who have captured his ship.
2. Laputa is a flying or floating island, moving above the ground.
3. The Laputans are almost totally absorbed in abstract spec¬ula¬tion, to the neglect of practical activities.
4. The better-off Laputans have servants called “flappers.” Their servants gently hit them with balloon-like objects filled with dried peas or pebbles so they will not be totally distracted in thought from the outside world.
5. Laputan food is shaped like geometrical figures or musical instruments and their clothing is similarly decorated. Their clothing is also decorated with astronomical figures. Clothing is made and fitted using navigational instruments and mathematical calculations, and it is ill-fitting.
6. The King of Laputa asks Gulliver about the state of mathe¬matics in England; he is interested in nothing else about England.
7. A magnetic rock in a cave in the center of the island of Laputa makes it fly.
8. The Laputans put down rebellions by flying over the rebellious area, blocking out sunlight, and if necessary throwing down rocks.
9. Laputan astronomers have discovered two additional satellites of Mars.
10. Rebels against Laputa were able to get favorable terms by putting magnetic towers at the four corners of their city, defeating Laputan measures against them.
Study Questions CH 4-6
1. How does Gulliver leave the Floating Island?
2. How did the Academy of Lagado originate?
3. What are the consequences of establishing the Academy?
4. What, generally, does the Academy of Lagado do?
5. What is the first scholar Gulliver sees at the Academy of Lagado trying to do?
6. What is the architect Gulliver sees at the Academy trying to do?
7. What is the first physician Gulliver sees at the Academy attempting?
8. What is the first activity Gulliver sees in the more theoretical¬ly oriented part of the Academy?
9. What are the political professors doing to cure politicians?
10. What does Gulliver propose to the Academy of Lagado?
Answers CH 4-6
1. Gulliver leaves the Floating Island by getting a court official, related to the King, to intervene.
2. The Academy of Lagado originated when some people from the continent of Balnibarbi spent some months on the Floating Island, learning a little mathematics but filling themselves with “volatile spirits,” meaning impractical, theoretical orientation (not liquor).
3. The consequence of the Academy is poverty, caused by the neglect of practical work in favor of visionary, impracticable, schemes.
4. The Academy of Lagado comes up with a variety of visionary, impracticable schemes that have not yet been perfected (and presumably never will be).
5. The first scholar Gulliver sees at the Academy of Lagado has been working for eight years on a project for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers.
6. The architect Gulliver first sees at the Academy is trying to build houses from the top down.
7. The first physician Gulliver sees at the Academy is trying to cure patients with a bellows.
8. The first activity Gulliver sees in the more theoretically oriented part of the Academy is an attempt to create new writings by putting all the words of the language on pieces of wood, linked by wires, on an enormous frame and rearranging them mechanically.
9. The politicians are trying to cure professors with medicines and violent attacks, or through brain transplants.
10. Gulliver proposes to the Academy of Lagado a scheme to accuse people of plots against the state by misinterpreting their letters as secret codes.
1. How does Gulliver get to Laputa?
2. How does Laputa differ from a normal country?
3. How do the people differ from those in most countries?
4. What unusual kind of servants do the better-off Laputans have?
5. What is unusual about Laputan food and clothing?
6. What does the King of Laputa ask Gulliver about England?
7. What makes the island fly?
8. How do the Laputans put down rebellions?
9. What have Laputan astronomers discovered?
10. How were rebels successful in one case against Laputa?
Answers CH 1-3
1. Gulliver gets to Laputa after being cast adrift on a small boat by pirates who have captured his ship.
2. Laputa is a flying or floating island, moving above the ground.
3. The Laputans are almost totally absorbed in abstract spec¬ula¬tion, to the neglect of practical activities.
4. The better-off Laputans have servants called “flappers.” Their servants gently hit them with balloon-like objects filled with dried peas or pebbles so they will not be totally distracted in thought from the outside world.
5. Laputan food is shaped like geometrical figures or musical instruments and their clothing is similarly decorated. Their clothing is also decorated with astronomical figures. Clothing is made and fitted using navigational instruments and mathematical calculations, and it is ill-fitting.
6. The King of Laputa asks Gulliver about the state of mathe¬matics in England; he is interested in nothing else about England.
7. A magnetic rock in a cave in the center of the island of Laputa makes it fly.
8. The Laputans put down rebellions by flying over the rebellious area, blocking out sunlight, and if necessary throwing down rocks.
9. Laputan astronomers have discovered two additional satellites of Mars.
10. Rebels against Laputa were able to get favorable terms by putting magnetic towers at the four corners of their city, defeating Laputan measures against them.
Study Questions CH 4-6
1. How does Gulliver leave the Floating Island?
2. How did the Academy of Lagado originate?
3. What are the consequences of establishing the Academy?
4. What, generally, does the Academy of Lagado do?
5. What is the first scholar Gulliver sees at the Academy of Lagado trying to do?
6. What is the architect Gulliver sees at the Academy trying to do?
7. What is the first physician Gulliver sees at the Academy attempting?
8. What is the first activity Gulliver sees in the more theoretical¬ly oriented part of the Academy?
9. What are the political professors doing to cure politicians?
10. What does Gulliver propose to the Academy of Lagado?
Answers CH 4-6
1. Gulliver leaves the Floating Island by getting a court official, related to the King, to intervene.
2. The Academy of Lagado originated when some people from the continent of Balnibarbi spent some months on the Floating Island, learning a little mathematics but filling themselves with “volatile spirits,” meaning impractical, theoretical orientation (not liquor).
3. The consequence of the Academy is poverty, caused by the neglect of practical work in favor of visionary, impracticable, schemes.
4. The Academy of Lagado comes up with a variety of visionary, impracticable schemes that have not yet been perfected (and presumably never will be).
5. The first scholar Gulliver sees at the Academy of Lagado has been working for eight years on a project for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers.
6. The architect Gulliver first sees at the Academy is trying to build houses from the top down.
7. The first physician Gulliver sees at the Academy is trying to cure patients with a bellows.
8. The first activity Gulliver sees in the more theoretically oriented part of the Academy is an attempt to create new writings by putting all the words of the language on pieces of wood, linked by wires, on an enormous frame and rearranging them mechanically.
9. The politicians are trying to cure professors with medicines and violent attacks, or through brain transplants.
10. Gulliver proposes to the Academy of Lagado a scheme to accuse people of plots against the state by misinterpreting their letters as secret codes.
