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Satire
Explanation and Analysis—Big-Endian/Little-Endian:
In Book 1, Chapter 4 of Gulliver's Travels, Swift satirizes a well-known British conflict through the use of an allegory. In this section, Gulliver learns that the ancient conflict between the nations of Lilliput and Blefuscu is rooted in a petty disagreement over whether to break eggs on the bigger or smaller end. Redresal, the principal secretary of Lilliput, explains that the struggle began when the great-grandfather of the current Lilliputian emperor passed a controversial law commanding all of his subjects to break their eggs on the small end:
The people so highly resented this Law, that our Histories tell us there have been six Rebellions raised on that account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and another his Crown.
The conflict between the Big-Endians and Little-Endians is intended as a satirical allegory of the historic conflict between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. This conflict began in 1534, when King Henry VIII separated the Church of England from papal authority in order to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. This event resulted in decades of political upheaval in Great Britain, including the execution of King Charles I (the emperor who lost his life) during the English Civil War and the deposition of King James II (the emperor who lost his crown) during the Glorious Revolution.
By grounding the conflict between Lilliput and Blefuscu in something as trivial as a disagreement over eggs, Jonathan Swift implies that the religious differences that have inspired so much bloodshed in Europe are equally inconsequential.
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