Question

Read the selection below from Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift and answer the question that follows.

The reader may remember, that when I signed those articles upon which I recovered my liberty, there were some which I disliked, upon account of their being too servile; neither could anything but an extreme necessity have forced me to submit. But being now a nardac of the highest rank in that empire, such offices were looked upon as below my dignity, and the emperor (to do him justice), never once mentioned them to me. However, it was not long before I had an opportunity of doing his majesty, at least as I then thought, a most signal service.



Based on the passage above, what could a reader infer about Gulliver’s relationship with the Lilliputians?

The relationship between Gulliver and the Lilliputians has changed because Gulliver has been elevated to the rank of nardac.
The Lilliputians and Gulliver have always maintained a positive relationship with each other.
Gulliver wishes to terminate his relationship with the Lilliputians immediately.
The emperor of Lilliput has continued to abuse his relationship with Gulliver.

Answer 1

Correct answer: The relationship between Gulliver and the Lilliputians has changed because Gulliver has been elevated to the rank of nardac.

When Lemuel Gulliver, the main character in Gulliver's Travels, was shipwrecked and found himself in Liiliput, the tiny people there tied him down and shot him with their arrows (which were like pins poking him). But, as the excerpt you have here illustrates, eventually Gulliver became a resource to the Lilliputians and the emperor honored him with the title of nardac.

Eventually, though, Gulliver was convicted of treason for extinguishing a palace fire by urinating on it. Gulliver escaped from Lilliput and continued his adventures.

Jonathan Swift's 1726 book, Gulliver's Travels, was a satirical work that also pioneered fantasy and adventure as genres in literature.