Gulliver sets out on yet another voyage assisting as the surgeon. When their ship gets seized by pirates, he is forced to survive in a canoe, stranded at sea with very little food and water that won’t last him over four days. As Gulliver journeys the seas, he comes across an island floating in the sky. This island is home to people with such a unique culture; meaning most of their ideas and thoughts came from mathematics, art, and music. Gulliver found this island to be dull and ordinary, so he then left for Legado where he would witness professors doing odd experiments in an academy. After his time spent here, he made a few more stops before he finally ended up at Glubbdubdrib. Here, he visited the governor who was well-known for calling on any spirits; therefore, Gulliver used his special abilities to reveal the truth about people from his past. After much exploration and wandering, Gulliver then went home to be with his family once again.
In Part 3, Swift builds up his political satire within the academic field. He uses the impractical studies the professors were experimenting with to satirize the Enlightenment era. Gulliver watches the scientists try to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, turn excrement back to food, and turn ice into gunpowder. As we read, we realize that their experiments will not amount to anything, much like England’s attempts to better their country during this time. Another satirical development is the floating island. This is used in a way to promote the government over the people it governs. For instance, the king sometimes has the people lick the poison coated floor as they approach him to rid opponents living in the kingdom. Because the king puts himself over the people, we might be led to believe that Swift may have also been trying to say that the Greek and Romans were always held highly, seen as truly virtuous, compared to the Europeans who might have been considered degenerate.
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