Gulliver’s Travels is a very important satire, both at the time it was written and today. Though there are specific details about the politics of the time in which it was written (like the way Lilliputians crack their eggs satirizes the split between catholics and protestants) but there are some other ways in which the character of Gulliver and people like him are satirized in a way that is more relevant to a modern audience. Gulliver seems to set himself apart from nearly everyone he meets (and though this is something that makes sense in the fantastical worlds that he visits, where he is an outsider), he continues this behavior when he is at home. What Gulliver gives is is the character of the braggart, which in turn satirizes the travel narrative bragging done by Columbus and others like him. But, famous exploring aside, there are still people today who like to tell us all about their travels and knowledge.
Gulliver has an amazing facility for language (that we can only take his word for), many friends and admirers (that we can only take his word for), a knowledge of medicine and the cultural inner workings of the places he’s visited (that we can only take his word for), if he visited them. In other words we have to choose whether or not we can really believe Gulliver’s tale. Of course, when it is told as a children’s story this is easy to do. But, when told with all the relevant satire one begins to wonder a) if Gulliver visited anywhere at all and b) if he did whether or not he understood the world he was in as well as he claimed. His translations of Lilliputian dialect are, after all, very congratulatory in their treatment of the “man-mountain.”
So, in the modern world, this book is incridibly relevant because not only is it entertaining and funny, but it gives a good portrayal of someone who has quite a big head (even if that head can be held in the palm of Glumdaclitch’s hand).