For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222

THE 4TH VOYAGE OF "GULLIVER'S TRAVELS".
  Term Paper ID:18393 		Get This Paper Free! or
Essay Subject:
Argues that the land of the Houyhnhnms is not a Utopia. Discusses author's satire.... More...
7 Pages / 1575 Words
6 sources, 9 Citations, MLA Format
$28.00

More Papers on This Topic


Paper Abstract:
Argues that the land of the Houyhnhnms is not a Utopia. Discusses author's satire.

Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Jonathan Swift's novel, Gulliver's Travels, with particular emphasis on the chapter involving Gulliver's visit to the Land of the Houyhnhnms. In October, 1726, England's Jonathan Swift published what is probably the most famous and savage satire ever directed against mankind. In a letter to a friend, Charles Ford, Swift wrote that his work would "wonderfully rend the world." He had spent three years writing it, took the manuscript in person to London to arrange for its anonymous publication, and retired to Alexander Pope's house to enjoy the expected storm it would cause. The book's title was Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver (Aeschliman, 53). The first public reaction was one of delight with the circumstantial realism of the narrative. Many readers took it as

Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.


. Gulliver definitely does not want to be identified withthe Yahoos. He usuallycontinues in office till a worse can be found." By contrast the Houyhnhnms, being reasonable, are happy and virtuous;therefore they need no physicians, lawyers, clergymen or generals. From what I had heard and seen, my keenappetite for perpetuity of life was much abated." In Part IV of the work Swift discarded humor for a sardonicexcoriation of humanity. "Jonathan Swift: A Hypocrite Reversed." New Statesman 1 Nov. He is pulledup by chain and bucket to Laputa, an island floating in the air andinhabited and governed by scientists, scholars, inventors, professors, andphilosophers; here the details that elsewhere lent verisimilitude to thenarrative are a bit silly, like the little bladders with which servants tapthe ears and mouths of the profound thinkers to rouse them from dangerousabsentmindedness in their cogitations (Peterson, 165). 1986: 83-85.Peterson, William S. TheHouyhnhnm does not understand Gulliver, though. In between theseextremes is Gulliver. When Gulliver returns to Europe he canhardly bear the smell of the streets and the people, who now all seem to beYahoos. "Jonathan Swift." Smithsonian May 1986: 165-167.Smith, Starr E. Gulliver's master continues to ponder the idea of a lie; the objectof speech, he reasons, is to give information. . Then with a jolt, Swift's point isobvious - the Yahoos are humans. The story weakens somewhat in Gulliver's third voyage. Like Adam,they cannot understand the use of clothing. Gulliver will try withadmirable determination to improve himself; he will try to change himselfinto a more horselike state, but he will fail. He does not identify the Houyhnhnms as"rational" horses in the first chapter, therefore the reader, likeGulliver, must try to solve the puzzle of who, or what, they are. Perhaps, he was right. "Jonathan Swift." The New Yorker 31 Mar. . Adept at languages, Gulliver learns rather quickly to talk with theHouyhnhnms. What was quite new was the awful cynicism ofthe later parts, and even this found admirers. The land of the Houyhnhnms is governed by clean,handsome, genial horses, who speak, reason, and have all the marks ofcivilization, while their menial servants, the Yahoos, are men dirty,odorous, greedy, drunken, irrational, and deformed. Thus Gulliver tells himmore about humans, such as himself, and about English horses. He predictedthe overthrow of the Newtonian cosmology: "New systems of nature were butnew fashions, which would vary in every age; and even those who pretend todemonstrate them from mathematical principles (Principia Mathematica, 1687)would flourish but a short period of time." So Gulliver moved on to theland of the Luggnaggians, who condemn their greatest criminals not to deathbut to immortality. Yet Swift seems to be saying here that manis not suited to become a "horse" (a dispassionate and virtuous stoic).Such dreams are as futile as Gulliver's belief that if he thinks hardenough he can acquire a fetlock or pastern (Nokes 84). Swift's pointseems to be that man's basic difference from the Yahoo is largely artifice. The idea of a Yahoo controlling a country is absurd. Swift also captures the interest of hisreader by posing a problem. and drive the female Yahoos to his kennel . They are devoid, forexample, of charity. Clothing, something artificial and extrinsic, "distinguishes" Gulliver. "Jonathan Swift." National Review 24 Oct. The contrast between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos is extreme. Thesegentlemanly horses are shocked by Gulliver's account of Europe's wars, andstill more by the disputes that generated them - as "whether flesh bebread, or bread be flesh (in the Eucharist); whether the juice of a certainberry be blood or wine;" and they cut Gulliver short when he boasts howmany human beings could now be blown up by the marvelous inventions whichhis race has invented (Nokes, 84). Doubtless Swift owed something to that book, more to Robinson Crusoe,and something, perhaps, to Cyrano de Bergerac's Histoires comigues desetats et empire de la lune. Thehorses are literally innocent, having never (in theological terms)"fallen." The Yahoos are super-sensual and seem depraved. Thus Gulliver'sclothes are an excellent device for Swift. "Gulliver's Travels." School Library JournalMar. there was aruling Yahoo (king) who was always more deformed in body, and mischievousin disposition, than any of the rest. . Like Gulliver, at this point we too are in a state of suspense. Now, he makes hispoint explicit by defining "Houyhnhnm," which means, "perfection ofnature." This definition establishes an important distinction. . Swift thus establishes a range, or spectrum, of existence. Many readers took it as history, though oneIrish bishop (said Swift) thought it full of improbabilities. Works CitedAeschliman, M. TheLilliputians were only six inches tall, and gave Gulliver a swelling senseof superiority. Then they aretruly mystified by their visitor; he seems to be so much like a Yahoo, buthe also seems to be a rational Yahoo - a combination which they believe tobe impossible. Our gullibility, ofcourse, cannot be measured, but Gulliver's can. We still imagine that the horses must have masters. Milton had joked about itbefore Swift (Smith 121). The Yahoos are fiery sensuality. After all, he reasons, why would anyone want toconceal what nature has made? The horsesare uncorrupted - by passion, either base, or noble. Swift, she declared, had given"the most accurate account of kings, ministers, bishops and courts ofjustice that is possible to be writ." Gay reported that she "is inraptures with the book, and can dream of nothing else." In regard to the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver's description of the Yahoosdisplays one of Swift's most effective techniques: he describes thefamiliar in terms that are new. Swiftadmired the horses, more than he admired man. They explainfurther that besides "Houyhnhnm" meaning "horse," it is derived from a wordmeaning "perfection of nature." Gulliver's Houyhnhnm host is curious aboutGulliver's modesty. At first the Yahoos seem familiar, butwho, or what they are is obscure. Also, Charles V is supposed to havesaid that he would speak to his God in Spanish, his friend in English, hismistress in French, and his horse in German. They speak a strange language, he says, yet it is similar toHigh Dutch. Swift positions Gulliver midway between the super-rational, innocenthorses and the filthy, depraved Yahoos. Gulliver describes for the Houyhnhnms the mutiny thatstranded him, and they are astonished by the notion of a "lie." Horses,they say, do not even have a word for the concept of lying. Their habits constitute the temperance which the eighteenthcentury thought characterized reasonable man, stoics, and Adam before thefall (Murray, 34). 1985: 34.Nokes, David. He must have some meat and somevariety in his diet - the paste of grain and milk. They are ignorant of many things which mostmen would consider venial. Gulliver's home is midway betweenthe stablehouse and the Yahoo pens. The success of "Gulliver" exceeded the author's dreams, and mighthave mollified his olfactory misanthropy. . They cannot, for example, understand lying - oreven the necessity for lying. What they do, and what theysay and think, is akin to man's human nature, but the character of theHouyhnhnms is far from his. Among thesedegenerates (wrote Swift in the days of King George I), " . Because Gulliver's naked Yahoo-like self is hidden, Gulliver's identity is also hidden. Readers enjoyed the spare andlimpid English, the circumstantial details, the hilarious obscenities.Arbuthnot predicted for the book "as great a run as John Bunyan" - forexample, as for Pilgrim's Procfress (Gross 172). Thisis interesting in itself; we stop to imagine horses living in houses,sitting on their hams, and, seemingly, conversing. The book's titlewas Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver(Aeschliman, 53). The first public reaction was one of delight with the circumstantialrealism of the narrative. "Whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repinethat others are gone to a harbor of rest, to which they themselves cannever hope to arrive . Swift continues the theological implications he began with thedietary references in the first chapter. He cannot live on oats alone. Besides the Houyhnhnms teaching Gulliver, he teaches them.They have no books, so Gulliver shows them how to write. In a letter to a friend,Charles Ford, Swift wrote that his work would "wonderfully rend the world." He had spent three years writing it, took the manuscript in person toLondon to arrange for its anonymous publication, and retired to AlexanderPope's house to enjoy the expected storm it would cause. In summary, this part of the book is definitely a satire. Also, they are not subject to temptation. Diet also places Gulliver midway between the Yahoos and theHouyhnhnms. In October, 1726,England's Jonathan Swift published what is probably the most famous andsavage satire ever directed against mankind. Gulliver lives an uneasy compromisewith his nature. The Houyhnhnmsare ice-cold reason. He lacks the humility tosee himself as a sort of Yahoo. Gulliver thenexplains that horses are often castrated and required to do a good deal ofdraft work; they are, very definitely, not masters. He is, simply, more of aYahoo than a Houyhnhnm. Swift never suggests that theHouyhnhnms stand for perfected human nature. Most readerswent no further than the voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, which werejolly narratives usefully illustrating the relativity of judgements. When he is naked, however, Gulliver looksvery much like a Yahoo, so Gulliver's host promises to keep his guest'sclothing a secret. The Houyhnhnm resentswhat he hears. Swift's satire iseffective. If the Houyhnhnms hadrecognized Gulliver as a Yahoo, Swift would have found it difficult toexplain the way in which some of them accepted Gulliver. D. Physically, he is a Yahoo and only his clothes, thus far,prevent the horses from identifying him as a Yahoo. The Brobdingnagians were sixty feet tall, givingGulliver a new perspective of humanity. The theory that Adam and Evespoke German was familiar to Swift's audience. He reasons that if theEnglish feed and care for their horses, it follows that the horses are themasters and the Yahoolike Englishmen are their servants. His diet and his physique will prevent him fromever becoming a horse. A Germanic scholar in theRenaissance had earnestly and learnedly proved that the language Adam andEve spoke in paradise was High Dutch. Swift isso skillful when he does this that he achieves an automatic "suspension ofdisbelief" (Peterson, 166). The household arrangement of the horses is described in detail. 1985: 172.Murray, Nicholas. 1986: 53-55.Gross, Margaret. "Jonathan Swift." Library Journal 1 May 1986: 121.----------------------- 1 The purpose of this paper is to analyze Jonathan Swift's novel,Gulliver's Travels, with particular emphasis on the chapter involvingGulliver's visit to the Land of the Houyhnhnms. Marlborough's Duchess, nowrasping in her old age, forgave Swift his attacks upon her husband inconsideration of his attacks upon mankind. The "Academy of Lagado," with its fanciful inventions and decrees, isa feeble satire on Bacon's New Atlantis and the Royal Society of London.Swift had no faith in the reform or rule of states by scientists, helaughed at their theories and the early mortality thereof. . He plans at first to givethe horses beads, bracelets, and looking glasses, as he would to savages. . Their king mistook him for aninsect, Europe for an anthill; and from Gulliver's description of humanways he concluded that "the bulk of your natives are the mostpernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawlupon the surface of the earth." For his part Gulliver (suggesting therelativity of beauty) was repelled by the "monstrous breasts" of theBrobdingnagian belles. This leader had usually a favoriteas like himself as he could get, whose employment was to lick his master'sfeet . . Every animal, he swears, abhors the Yahoointuitively. Swift has established the distinctions between Gulliver, the horses,and the Yahoos by using physical and concrete objects. Thehorses are clean and sweet-smelling; their diet is temperate andvegetarian. Heinsists that the Yahoos' bodies are not beautiful and that they are notadapted to survival. Political parties there were distinguished from each otherby wearing high heels or low heels, and the religious factions were Big-Endians or Little-Endians as they believed in breaking eggs at the big endor the small end. Swift uses Gulliver's character to establish a further point.Gulliver reacts to the Yahoos with immediate and overpowering detestation.He is horrified by the Yahoo's similarity to him. .

If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:

Search for:

or

We can write a Custom Essay just for you.


Browse Essays by Subject