Lilliputian high heels and low heels factions

The Lilliputian high heels and low heels factions, known in the native tongue as the Tramecksan and the Slamecksan, are the two bitterly opposed political parties that divide the empire of Lilliput, distinguished solely by the height of the heels on their shoes. This seemingly trivial sartorial difference masks a deep and violent factionalism that pervades every aspect of Lilliputian life, from personal relationships to state policy, and serves as one of Jonathan Swift's most pointed satires on the petty, irrational nature of partisan conflict in eighteenth-century England.

Identity and Origin of the Factions

The two parties are known as the Tramecksan and the Slamecksan, names derived from the high and low heels of their shoes. The high heels, the Tramecksan, are alleged to be most agreeable to the ancient constitution of the empire, while the low heels, the Slamecksan, have been favored by the current Emperor of Lilliput, who has determined to use only low heels in the administration of the government and in all offices in the gift of the crown. The emperor's own imperial heels are lower, by at least a drurr (a measure about the fourteenth part of an inch), than any of his court. The animosities between these two parties run so high that they will neither eat, drink, nor talk with each other. The Tramecksan are computed to exceed the Slamecksan in number, but the power is wholly on the side of the low heels.

The Factions and the Royal Succession

The conflict is further complicated by the position of the heir to the crown, his imperial highness, who is suspected of having some tendency towards the high heels. This suspicion is grounded in a physical observation: it can be plainly discovered that one of his heels is higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait. This detail, a physical manifestation of political leaning, underscores Swift's satire on how personal and arbitrary characteristics are projected onto political allegiances, and how the future of the state is seen to be literally unbalanced by the prince's divided loyalties.

Connection to the Big-Endian Controversy and Foreign War

The internal factionalism of the high and low heels is inextricably linked to the empire's other great conflict: the religious and political schism between the Big-endians and the Small-endians, a dispute over which end of an egg should be broken. The Big-endian exiles, who refused to break their eggs at the smaller end, have found so much credit and private assistance and encouragement from their party at home that a bloody war has been carried on between Lilliput and the island empire of Blefuscu for six-and-thirty moons. This war has resulted in the loss of forty capital ships, a much greater number of smaller vessels, and thirty thousand of Lilliput's best seamen and soldiers. The damage received by the enemy is reckoned to be somewhat greater. The factions are thus not merely a domestic nuisance but a direct cause of a devastating international conflict, as each side uses the foreign power to undermine the other.

Narrative and Thematic Significance

The high heels and low heels factions are a central element of Swift's political allegory, directly lampooning the conflict between the Tories and the Whigs in early eighteenth-century Britain. The absurdity of basing a political identity on the height of a shoe heel mirrors the perceived triviality of the differences that drove real-world partisan hatred. The factions also serve as a key plot mechanism, as the internal disquiet they create is one of the two "mighty evils" that Reldresal, the principal secretary, describes to Gulliver, alongside the threat of invasion from Blefuscu. This context of internal division and external threat provides the immediate justification for Gulliver's own actions and his eventual entanglement in Lilliputian politics. The factions, therefore, are not a mere background detail but a driving force of the narrative, illustrating how petty divisions can destabilize an entire kingdom and lead to war, a theme that resonates throughout the entire work.