Civil laws and religious authority in Gulliver's Travels In the first part of Gulliver's Travels, Swift presents readers with an inverted world, not only transplanting Gulliver into a land that it is only one twelfth the size (a true microcosm), but also by inserting it into a society with different ethical and civil laws. Swift uses these inversions not only to entertain readers' imaginations, but, more importantly, to transform our perspectives for understanding alien worldviews (for example, in the fourth part, much detail is given to explain the Houyhnhnms' views on marriage, health, astronomy, poetry, language, death and reproduction). The Lilliputian conflict that erupts from the egg law (found in Part One, Chapter Four) is an inversion, which (1) parallels the conflict of the Protestant Reformation; and (2) argues that warfare over religious viewpoints is futile and destructive to society, and (3) requires lawmakers to be cautious about creating laws that contradict religious teachings. The conflict between Lilliputians and Blefuscudians resembles the conflict between Protestants and Papists because it is a conflict over the interpretation of the Scriptures. The "great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Brundecral" decrees that "all true believers will break their eggs at the proper end" (2353). Blefuscudians (like Roman Catholics) hold a traditional view of the Scriptures, and in their case, "the primitive way of breaking eggs...was at the broadest end" (2353), and that was "ancient practice" ( 2353). The Lilliputians (like the Protestants) broke with tradition and held a personal view of the Scriptures, as the Emperor decreed, "to break the smallest end of their eggs" (2353). And for "thirty-six moons past" (2353), the Lil......middle of paper......egg law that has caused so many wars because of religious beliefs, Swift makes all the legislators (and therefore Democratic voters) to be wary of the establishment of laws in conflict with religion. Therefore, the seemingly silly egg law indicates huge ideas that influence every society. When Gulliver first wakes in the land of Lilliput, Swift binds him by staring into the sky, in a new land, with a new language, with new laws. Swift, in a way, binds 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, advocates tolerating religious views and not making war on them, and instructs all legislators to be wary of creating laws that contradict religious teachings. Works Cited: Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1959.