Chapter 4, Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib & Japan Summary Class 9 Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan

"The author leaves Laputa; is conveyed to Balnibarbi; arrives at the metropolis. A description of the metropolis, and the country adjoining. The author hospitably received by a great lord. His conversation with that lord."

• Gulliver feels disrespected, because no one wants to talk about anything but math or music, and he can't compete with the Laputians in either field.
• Also, he has become totally sick of the Laputians themselves and their dull conversation.
• There is a lord in Laputa who has done many great things for the state, but he gets no respect, because he has no ear for music and no talent for math.
• He and Gulliver bond, because they can talk sensibly to each other.
• Gulliver asks this lord (Lord Munodi) to request to the King that Gulliver be let down in Lagado, the capital city.
• The King agrees, and sends him down to the continent of Balnibarbi with Lord Munodi and some money.
• Gulliver is relieved to be on firm ground again.
• He is disappointed at the sight of Lagado, though: all of the people working there look hungry and unhappy.
• Gulliver expresses his opinions of the poverty of Lagado to Lord Munodi, who suggests that they keep this conversation for a later time, when they are safely at Lord Munodi's own estates.
• Lord Munodi's estates are beautiful, well-cultivated, and seem prosperous – totally the opposite of the other Balnibarbi lands.
• Lord Munodi tells Gulliver that his estates (which look so great to Gulliver) bring frequent criticisms from other Laputians for mismanagement – he has left his orchards, fields, and home in the old model of his forefathers, while the rest of Balnibarbi has gone over to new ideas of farming.
• The problem is, about 40 years before, some people from Balnibarbi went up to Laputa and came back filled with ideas for reform of everything – arts, science, all of it.
• These guys found an academy in Lagado, filled with professors who promise all kinds of miracles – auto-ripening fruit, reduction of working hours, etc., etc.
• "Their plans have become total fads" A "fad" is a trend that many people follow for a short period of time, but that quickly passes. This term originated in the mid-1800s. in all of the cities in the kingdom, but the problem is – all their calculations don't actually work.
• So, these impractical men (Swift calls them "Projectors" (3.4.15)) have completely ruined the buildings and farmland of Balnibarbi with their farfetched ideas and equations.
• Lord Munodi promises to get Gulliver an invitation to Lagado's Royal Academy if he wants it, which Gulliver does.