Civil Laws and Religious Authority in Gulliver's TravelsIn the first part of Gulliver's Travels, Swift presents readers with an inverted world, not only by transplanting Gulliver in a country that is only one twelfth. size (a literal microcosm), but also placing it in a society with different ethical and civil laws. Swift uses these reversals not only to entertain the reader's imagination, but more importantly, to transform our perspectives in order to understand the alien worldviews (for example, in part four, many details are given to explain the views of the aliens). Houyhnhnm on marriage, health, astronomy, poetry, language, death and reproduction). The Lilliputian conflict that arises from the law of the egg (discovered in Part One, Chapter Four) is an inversion that (1) parallels the conflict of the Protestant Reformation; and (2) argues that wars over religious viewpoints are futile and destructive to society, and (3) requires legislators to be wary of creating laws that contradict religious teachings. The conflict between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians resembles the struggle of the Protestants and the Papists because it is a conflict between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians. struggle over the interpretation of Scripture. The “great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Brundecral” decrees that “all true believers will break their eggs at the end that suits them” (2353). Blefuscudians (like Roman Catholics) have a traditional view of Scripture, and in their case "the primitive way of cracking eggs...was on the wider side" (2353), and this was an "ancient practice » (2353). The Lilliputians (like the Protestants) broke with tradition and had a personal vision of Scripture, as the Emperor decreed, “to break the smallest end of their eggs” (2353). And during "six and thirty moons past" (2353), the little...... middle of paper......the egg law which has caused so many wars because of religious convictions, Swift makes in so that all legislators (and therefore Democratic voters) to be wary of laws that conflict with religion. So the seemingly stupid egg law points to huge ideas that affect all societies. When Gulliver first wakes up in the Lilliput Land, Swift has him looking up at the sky, in a new land, with a new language, with new laws. Swift, in a sense, ties us all together, to teach us new perspectives and the importance of tolerance. In Swift's inverted world, he parallels the Lilliputian conflict with the Protestant Reformation, argues for toleration of religious viewpoints and non-war over them, and asks all legislators to be wary of the creating laws that contradict religious teachings. Works Cited: Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1959.