The first step in generating thesis ideas is to determine the purpose of the writing assignment. There are several ways to approach a writing situation and reading the essay prompt carefully will help you decide if the paper should be written to explain, analyze or argue a point. Understanding who you are writing for, your audience, is the next step to writing an effective paper. If you are writing a paper for a college literature course, your professor is an enlightened reader, but chances are she is looking for you to prove that you are, too. Writing a literary analysis may be the best genre to use for a paper on "Gulliver's Travels."
Swift weaves his satirical views throughout the four parts of "Gulliver's Travels." Each voyage focuses on certain ideas or issues surrounding human nature and society, and often share common themes. An effective paper will analyze these ideas and issues through a particular standpoint or lens: philosophical, social scientific, political or theological. Which approach is used to analyze "Gulliver's Travels" should be determined by the evidence and the ultimate point or argument that will be made in the paper. For example, one might choose to argue from a social scientific standpoint that Swift proposes morality should triumph over physical strength as determined by Gulliver's role in the war between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudians in Part I or by his observation in Part IV on the treatment of the Yahoos by the Houyhnhnms. "Gulliver's Travels" also contains many references to actual political parties and leaders in power during Swift's lifetime, and analyzing characters or situations as presented in the book through a political standpoint would be appropriate.
The most prevalent theme throughout "Gulliver's Travels" is that of the human condition. From Lilliput to Laputa, Gulliver encounters societies that highlight aspects of the human condition that Swift satirizes in order to bring into question certain ideologies and theories that the uphold social, political, philosophical or theological systems of Swift's day. One main reoccurring element to this is that there is a limit to human understanding and knowledge. The Laputans quest for knowledge leads them to useless and erroneous scientific theories whereas obtaining knowledge beyond what is logical and needed in order to be happy among the Houyhnhnms leads to the rejection of scientific knowledge.
The idea of Utopia is also present throughout the book. As Gulliver visits each foreign land, the prospect of finding a perfect society is present until he encounters the inhabitants and their flaws. In the end, Gulliver must reconcile his own self-loathing as he regards the Yahoos. Utopia can never be realized as human nature, in and of itself, becomes grotesque to Gulliver.
Several symbols and motifs can be explored as individual theses or in support of a theme in "Gulliver's Travels." Each society and its characters represents a philosophical or scientific concept or an extreme expression of human nature. A constant motif throughout the book is that of bodily functions, especially excrement, which works to debase humans. Clothing is also used to express the inner thoughts and outer expressions of Gulliver throughout his journeys.
Using a topic of interest to you is the best way to begin narrowing down a central thesis for your paper. Check to see what you know about the text and what evidence you can pull from it to support what you know. Once you settle on a few ideas you have about the book or a particular voyage Gulliver takes, conduct research to see what other sources have to lend to your claim. The wealth of material to discuss in "Gulliver's Travels" allows you to pick subject matter that can be thoroughly explored and researching your area of interest should help you focus on one main idea.