Gulliver's first destination is reached quite by accident as he washes up on an island after a shipwreck. The name of the island is Lilliput, and its inhabitants are an incredibly small (less than six inches tall) race of people. Gulliver is originally imprisoned but eventually allowed to be free among the people of the island, provided that he does not hurt anyone. The people of Lilliput do their best to be hospitable, but they show themselves to be unsavory in other ways. Their culture is based largely on overt pedantry, evidenced by the bipartisan nature of their politics being based on which side one cracks an egg. This is thought by scholars to be an allusion to British conflict over religion, and the term "Lilliputian" has come to be synonymous with a person or concept overly concerned with the trivial.
The first fantasy island in the South Indian Ocean that Gulliver visits on his travels is the island of Lilliput. The inhabitants of the island are known as Lilliputians and they are miniature people, who are roughly six inches tall. The surrounding environment, buildings, and architecture of Lilliput are proportionally miniature and the Lilliputians are depicted as pretentious, self-important individuals, who are deceitful, greedy, corrupt, and violent. The Lilliputians are uniquely human and initially approach Gulliver with caution. They are expert engineers, formidable opponents in regards to warfare, and petty/irrational in regards to their political views (high heels vs. low heels). Swift satirizes English politics in his portrayal of the Lilliputian court, which is ruled by an Emperor who is hypocritical, violent, and capricious. Despite their small size, the Lilliputians bully, threaten and punish Gulliver for not following their orders to completely destroy their Blefuscudian rivals. After successfully capturing the Blefuscudian fleet, Gulliver does not feel safe in Lilliput and flees to Blefuscu out of fear that the Lilliputians will blind him.
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