ational tone in which Gulliver relates his adventures also serves to draw the reader in. This was, of course, a necessary strategy for presenting such outrageous tales without unduly distracting the audience. But when Gulliver becomes fascinated with describing, for example, the mechanics by which the floating island pulls him up his familiar tone makes it possible for Swift to establish these absurd premises very fast. Since there is no voice but Gulliver's, and he sounds perfectly reasonable for most of the book, the reader begins to share in his judgments, almost as if to say, "I would have come to that conclusion myself." These earnest descriptions also accommodate the deadpan tone in which Gulliver can report, for example, that the Laputans keep servants known as flappers who strike them with "blown bladders" with "a small quantity of dried pease" inside in order to indicate to the absent-minded Laputan thinkers whose turn it is to speak or listen in conversation (172). Gulliver's tone increases the comedy but, once again, gains the reader's sympathy.
The reader is not aware, however, that Swift is striking her or him with a bladder of his own. In addition to t
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