Lilliputian is a term that is applied to people who are very small, being a denomination that comes from the famous book Gulliver's Travels.
This work, a prose satire on human nature and travel stories, is a classic of English literature, was written by the Irishman Jonathan Swift and published on October 28, 1726 by the Benjamin Motte Publishing House.
According to the author, a Lilliputian is an inhabitant of the island of Lilliput and these inhabitants are characterized by the following:
- They are incredibly small, standing around 15 centimeters or 6 inches tall.
- They are characterized by being extremely arrogant and arrogant, much like a normal-sized person, they can even be considered vicious, morally corrupt, hypocritical, jealous, envious, full of anger and ingratitude, among other characteristics. In fact, because of all this, they are completely human.
- They were always in constant war with the inhabitants of the neighboring island of Blefuscu (equally extraordinarily small and arrogant beings).
Liliput
It is a fictional island or island nation created by writer Jonathan Swift where the first part of his novel Gulliver's Travels takes place.
Liliput has a circumference of 5,000 blustrugos (17,312 km) and has a 700-meter wide channel that separates it located southeast of Blefuscu.
The location is not specified in the book, but it is related to a shipwreck that was located northwest of what was then called Van Diemen's Land, which is now known as Tasmania, at 30 ° 2 'south latitude.
Although this geographical position indicates that it is in the interior of Australia, this area was unknown at the time the book was written.
The capital of Liliput is Mildendo, which is formed by a perfect square of 170 meters and its population is made up of half a million Lilliputians, although there are also other cities and towns nearby.
The main characteristic that describes Liliput is that it is inhabited by tiny people and everything that makes it up is consistent with the super small size of its inhabitants, including the flora and fauna.
They have a neighboring and rival island named Blefuscu.
Gulliver
The book tells the stories of a traveler by Lemuel Gulliver, who was at first a surgeon and later a captain of various ships.
The text is developed in the first person and the name 'Gulliver' only appears in the title of the book.
Gulliver meets the Lilliputians on the first island he visits (Lilliput). This island is ruled by an emperor who names all his high officials according to their skill in rope dancing and never by their true abilities.
The government is not being run according to rational principles and even many times the rulers conspire among themselves. One of the main targets of conspiracies on the part of the government, was Gulliver.
In terms of his characteristics, Lemuel Gulliver was huge compared to the Lilliputians. However, it has many things in common with them.
Its enormous size made the emperor think that it was expensive and dangerous to maintain it, so although it was useful to them to win the war against Blefuscu, he is forced to flee the country to avoid being assassinated and having his eyes.
Among other characteristics, he was quite flexible in terms of class and languages, possessed great skill in the mechanical arts, and his mind functioned mechanically.
Structure and policy
Liliput and Blefuscu (both called empires) are in permanent war, the main reason for it being the dispute about how to crack boiled eggs.
The Lilliputians say that they should be cracked on the narrower side and the Blefuscans believe that they should be cracked on the thicker side.
It is generally accepted that Lilliput represents England and Blefuscu represents France.
The author, Swift, used the Lilliputians to satirize specific events and people in his life. He wrote this iconic novel to strongly criticize the European society of the 18th century and the almost perennial war that existed between England and France throughout the Middle Ages and much of the modern era.
For example, Swift modeled Flimnap based on Robert Walpole, the English prime minister in the modern era.
Walpole was a very astute politician, making him see in his tale as the most agile of rope dancers. Also, the next most skilled dancer is likely to represent Viscount Townshend or Lord Carteret, both politicians allied with Walpole.
He wrote the tale in a way that depicted the Lilliputians as English politicians, bloodthirsty and treacherous by nature. It records cruel methods used by the Lilliputians to plan Gulliver's death, then ironically praises the piety, decency, generosity and justice of the kings.
The unmerciful Lilliputian emperor planned to assassinate, blind and starve Gulliver. This is a direct reference to Lord George Murray's treatment of the captured Jacobites (whom he executed).
Swift himself was also involved in politics. He was a prominent Anglican Irish minister and had faith in the national church although he was against the use of religious (wide extremists vs. narrow extremists) or political (high heels vs. low heels) differences of opinion as pretexts for war and persecution. of noble and honest public servants.
High heels vs. low heels
Within history, politics had two divisions marked to identify the men of Lilliput: those who wear high heels and those who wear low heels.
Those with high heels are known as "Tramecksan" and support the emperor and the Lilliput constitution. Those who wear low heels or the so-called "Slamecksan" are in power.
The emperor only puts low heels on people in high positions in government, regardless of whether they are qualified for this or not.
The most curious case is that of the emperor's son, which is more difficult to classify because he uses a high heel and a low one, nobody knows his position.