Literary Analysis
02/13/97
English 2040
Dr. James Ivory
Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels—A depiction of society’s extremes in Houyhnhnmland
Part Four of Jonathan Swift’s novel, Gulliver’s Travels, is a tale in which Lemuel
Gulliver, a fictitious surgeon turned sea captain, finds himself stranded on a mysterious island off the coast of Africa, supposedly near the island of Madagascar. The story implores the use of a travel journal to not only record the events of his fantastic journeys, but also to satirize the “savage” society and culture of Swift’s time. But my argument is this: that Gulliver is used as a pawn to denounce both extreme passions of the revolting Yahoos who represent and satirize the British culture, and also the extreme rationality that the Houyhnhmns exhibit—that society should find a moderate balance between the two extremes.
One extreme which is produced through the heavy satire is passion , which Jonathan Swift presents in the nature of the Yahoos in the strange land of the Houyhnhmns. From the first glance, Gulliver (a clipped pun on the word “gullible”) detests and abhors the filthy creatures to whom he so rudely introduced. Gulliver states that “Upon the whole, I never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable an animal, or one against which I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy” (436). Gulliver is filled with nothing but “contempt and aversion” (436) toward the creatures. This is incredibly ironic because Swift is using the Yahoos here to comment disdainfully on the state of the society of England in his day and age. These Yahoos act on the basis of pure and extreme passion, which involves such deadly sins as gluttony, lust, envy, wrath, and above all others, greed. The Yahoos are described within their extreme version of society, which is both shocking and disgusting to both 18th Century readers and today’s modern reader. One such example of the Yahoo greed can be found in their extreme avarice over “certain shining stones of several colours” (459). Although useless to their society, these stones were coveted greatly by the entire Yahoo population. Obviously, this comments on the misguided values associated with the society of both the Yahoos and the British. Another such example of the passion vices of the Yahoos is their lust over roots which makes them “howl and grin, and chatter, and reel and tumble, and then fall asleep in the mud” (460). Also, concerning the extreme passions of the Yahoos, it is interesting to note the connections between them and Gulliver’s descriptions of human beings to his master horse—both are curiously passion-oriented and used by Swift to denounce the extremes of passions in society. The Yahoos cure sickness among their kind by prescribing “a mixture of their own dung and urine, forcibly put down the Yahoo’s throat” (460). Comparatively, in Gulliver’s description of human medicine, he states that “the body must be treated in a manner directly that is contrary, by interchanging the use of each orifice” (455). This same connection can be drawn concerning the nature of the human nobility and the nobility of the Yahoo culture. The head of each of the Yahoo tribes was described as being “more deformed in body, and mischievous in disposition, than any of the rest” (460). Again in comparison, Gulliver describes current English nobility as people who are of “weak, diseased body, a meager countenance, and shallow complexion are the true marks of noble blood” (457). This point concerning nobility is important because both are equally extreme and both seemingly are unfit to rule. Again, one of Swift’s major points prevails—that extreme passion is a misguided and wrong basis for any society and culture.
On the other hand, the Houyhnhmns are the noble horses whom Swift utilizes to exemplify pure reason and its effect on a society. On the surface, this extreme appears to be a superior lifestyle compared to that of the Yahoo, with whom they are painfully juxtaposed. After all, the Houyhnhmns appear to have formed a beneficial and totally uncorrupt society that strives to cultivate reason. However, they do not understand Gulliver when he attempts to explain certain aspects of his society because he has, in the view of the Houyhnhmns “said the thing which was not” (443). The Houyhnhmns do not understand the concept of lying or falsehood, and by the same token they do not seem to comprehend the notion of emotions. Gulliver’s master horse does not seem to grasp either falsehood or emotions—he is driven, like their society, purely rationally. For example, when the Houyhnhmn culture is described, many things stand out to the reader as immensely unfeeling or impersonal—this is the fault in a purely reason-oriented culture—it is extreme and imbalanced. For example, when the care of the Houyhnhmn children is described, Gulliver realizes that “they have no fondness for their colts or foals; but they take care in educating them preceedeth entirely from the dictates of reason” (464). This mirrors how Gulliver’s master horse teaches him the ways of the Houyhnhmn society—rationally. This is closely linked with the Houyhnhmn idea of marriage, which harbors no need for courting or romance. On the contrary, they are “exactly careful to choose such colors as will not make any disagreeable mixture in the breed” (465). Colors? Emotional urges or desires make no difference to these beings. This is obviously extreme and totally unbalanced. Furthermore, the Houyhnhmns bury their dead in the “obscurest of places that can be found, their friends or relations expressing neither joy nor grief at their departure” (468). This is an important point because death has little to no effect on the Houyhnhmn conscience. Whereas, death in human culture is comparatively one of the most traumatic experiences that can occur. A final and perhaps most compelling example of the extreme reason-oriented nature of the Houyhnhmns is the episode during which Gulliver realizes from his master that he must leave the island. Consequently, Gulliver “fell into a swoon at his feet; when I (Gulliver) came to myself, he told me he had concluded that I had been dead” (472). This comes across to the reader as immensely humorous but it also gives the reader a sense of the logical and calculating nature of these beings—a rational imbalance not to be admired nor envied. Thus, Swift powerfully portrays the other side of this extreme coin—that total reason is also an unhealthy imbalance in society
However, Gulliver, Swift’s pawn throughout the story, still remains loyal to the Houyhnhmns and their rational way of life even though he falls victim to the extent of their reason—he is seen as a threat to the Houyhnhmn culture and must leave the island forever. Thus, the Houyhnhmns are an example of the extreme reason which is as much an imbalance of nature as that of pure and extreme passion exemplified by the vice-ridden Yahoos. This becomes obvious to the reader towards the end when Gulliver, playing that part of the pawn while satirizing English society and displaying a need for moderation, temperance and balance between passion and reason, is tossed back into the grip of modern 18th Century society while still clinging to the Houyhnhmn way of life. Although Gulliver obviously does not exemplify this moderation, he does powerfully show the reader the need for this balance. Once off the island, Gulliver realizes what the reader already knows—the terrible discrepancy between his ideal reason-based society and the actual passion-based British society. Thus, unable to function in a world of Yahoos, Gulliver appears to go crazy while longing for the world of the Houyhnhmns—a victim of this critical imbalance.
Although it appears to Gulliver that the Houyhnhmns culture of reason is superior to the passionate culture of the Yahoos and the English society, Swift’s narrative seems to denounce both of these extremes in a beneficial culture and society. Swift suggests that the best alternative to the land of the Houyhnhmns is a land of balance and moderation between passion and reason.
Mack, Maynard ed. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Pub. 1995. Norton
and Company. New York, NY. pp. 427-483.