Satire or parody as an entertaining form of social commentary has been used for a long time, particularly in English literature. Although it is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift, is one such parody or satirical work that has stood the test of time. It was published anonymously in 1726 and is regarded as a keystone of English literature. It is one of the books that contributed to the emergence of the novel as a literary form in English.
Gulliver’s Travels is a four part novel and in the first one, Gulliver is the only survivor of a shipwreck. He swims to Lilliput, an island where the inhabitants are less than 6 inches tall. The Lilliputians’ small size mirrors their small-mindedness. They indulge in ridiculous customs and petty debates. Political affiliations, for example, are divided between men who wear high-heeled shoes and those who wear low ones and court positions are filled by those who are best at rope dancing. Gulliver is asked to help defend Lilliput against the empire of Blefuscu, an adjoining island also inhabited by tiny people, with which Lilliput is at war over which end of an egg it should be broken, this being a matter of religious doctrine.
To draw an allegory, Mokokchung is much like Lilliput – small people, small-mindedness and all. The Lilliputians in the novel indulged in ridiculous customs and petty debates. People with political affiliations always have their way. We also have a lot of people who are good at ‘rope dancing’. However, in the novel, there is a reason why Lilliput is at war – and that is over the practice of breaking eggs! The Lilliputians symbolize mankind’s wildly excessive pride in its own puny existence.
According to the novel, Lilliputians traditionally broke boiled eggs on the larger end. However, a few generations ago, an Emperor of Lilliput had decreed that all eggs be broken on the smaller end after his son cut himself breaking the egg on the larger end. The differences between Big-Endians (those who broke their eggs at the larger end) and Little-Endians (those who broke their eggs at the little end) led to civil strife and the war with Blefescu. The allegory of how the breaking of eggs at the wrong end had led to civil strife and war between Lilliput and Blefescu finds plenty of application in our society. In the novel, eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end! The ongoing debate on the first Church in the Naga Hills or where our progenitors evolved/migrated from are good candidates for the Lilliputian egg. If Lilliput is not a good allegory, maybe we can consider George Orwell’s Animal Farm.