Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jonathan Swift managed a distinct pattern in the four books of Gulliver Travels. In the first book, he was a Giant in Lilliput but in Book 2, he became a miniature in Brobdingnag, which was a complete reversal of Book 1. Similarly, in Book 3, Gulliver appeared to be much more focused, inventive, imaginative, and wise than the Laputans. Swift presented Gulliver in a complete role reversal in Book 4 as he finds himself totally ignorant in the Land of Houyhnhnms and thus completes the cycle from Big to Small to Intelligent to Ignorant.
Characters of A Voyage to the Land of Houyhnhnms:
Lemuel Gulliver is appointed as the captain of the ship The Adventurer headed towards the South Seas. He is stranded alone on the island of Houyhnhnms who are rational, peaceful, generous, and civilized horses. While they peacefully live in their egalitarian and placid society, they face trouble in form of Yahoos who are the cohabitants of their island. The Yahoos are degenerate kind of humans. They are filthy, greedy, gluttonous, selfish, and dumb, the Yahoos are the embodiment of everything gross and crude in human nature. The Master Horse is a member of the society of Houyhnhnms who takes the charge of teaching Gulliver. He becomes the master of Gulliver. Don Pedro de Mendez is a kind and generous Portuguese sea captain who finds Gulliver alone in the sea after he leaves the land of Houyhnhnms and takes him back to England.
Summary of A Voyage to the Land of Houyhnhnms:
After returning from Japan, Gulliver spends five months with his family in London during which, he gets another job proposal as the captain of the ship The Adventurer. Gulliver leaves home on 7th September 1710. His ship is headed toward the South Seas. However, a deadly fever of Tropics causes the death of many of the crew members and thus, he is forced to hire new crew members en route. Gulliver didn’t have much time to check the credentials of the new crew members and thus, he commits a fatal mistake. Most of the new crew members were sea pirates in the past. As his ship moves, these new crew members gather and make a gang and imprison Gulliver in his own cabin while taking complete control of the merchandise ship. They continue to deal with the local people of the South Sea. One day, a man visits his cabin and informs him that they have decided to leave him on the shore. Gulliver is happy to know that finally he will be released. But soon he realizes that he has been left out on an unidentified island and thus begins his new misadventure.
As Gulliver moves inland, he observes a strange ugly animal with thick hair on its head, breast, anus, and genitals, but bare skin elsewhere. The animal attacks him with its forepaw. Gulliver gets threatened and uses his sword to fend off the animal. He is cautious enough not to harm the animal as he doesn’t want to annoy the inhabitants of the island by destroying their livestock. However, the ugly animal calls for help and suddenly, a herd of 40 such animals encircles Gulliver with attacking intent. Gulliver hides behind a tree while trying to defend himself with his sword. The animals are afraid of Gulliver’s sword but they climb over the tree and start throwing their feces at Gulliver.
Gulliver observes a grey horse appearing from the bushes and suddenly all the attacking animals flee away. The horse curiously encircles Gulliver trying to understand this strange-looking living thing. Gulliver tries to touch the horse for thanking it for its help. However, the horse doesn’t allow Gulliver to touch itself and neighs to call another horse. The two horses observe Gulliver intently and Gulliver notices that they are rationally discussing him in their own language which Gulliver cannot understand. Gulliver tries to run away but one of the horses neighs towards him as if ordered to stand still. The two horses examine and admire every article of his clothing and then they decide to go back. One of them beckons Gulliver to follow them. Gulliver realizes that the horses are talking to each other in a sophisticated manner and the two words he could grasp from their neighing talks were Yahoos and Houyhmhnms. Gulliver learns that these horses are Houyhnhnms while the ugly animals that attacked him were Yahoos.
The horses take Gulliver to a house in their colony. Soon Gulliver learns that the horses are masters of their own self while the gray horse appears to be the leader of all other horses. He talks about Gulliver to other horses and Gulliver listens to the word Yahoo many times during their conversation. Finally, the gray horse takes Gulliver to a room where many of those ugly animals that first attacked Gulliver were tied with ropes. They were eating raw meat. Gulliver is made to stand beside them while the horse compares him with those ugly animals. To his horror, Gulliver realizes that he is exactly like those ugly animals except that he is covered by his clothes while those animals are very degenerate, wild, and rude kind of humans. The horses call these ugly animals Yahoos and they think that Gulliver is also a Yahoo but they are not convinced because they think that the clothes of Gulliver are a part of his body which alienates him from other Yahoos. The master horse offers the same raw meat to Gulliver but he gets disgusted by it and gestures for milk. This further confirms the doubts of horses that Gulliver is not a Yahoo. The master horse then offers some milk to Gulliver and allows him to dine with them. The horse takes their food in a civilized manner indoors. They take the milk and eat oats. The master horse offers him some oats and Gulliver beats them up into a cake and eats it. Gulliver consciously avoids his taste for meat and salt and he doesn’t want the horses to suspect that he too is one of the Yahoos. The master horse doesn’t allow Gulliver to stay in their house but lodges him in a stable behind their house. The master horse starts teaching the Houyhnhnm language to Gulliver and he appreciates Gulliver for his reasonable thinking and quick learning, things that he cannot expect from a Yahoo.
The horses still believe that his clothes are a part of his body and Gulliver tries his best to maintain this mystery. But one day, a servant of the master horse sees Gulliver’s naked body while he was asleep and informs the master horse about it. The grey horse questions Gulliver about it and he admits that the clothes are not a part of his body by getting naked in front of the master horse. The master horse comments that Gulliver is a perfect Yahoo. Gulliver says that he doesn’t like to be called any kind of Yahoo and requests the master horse not to reveal his truth to other horses. The master horse agrees to his request. Gradually. Gulliver becomes fluent in the language of Houyhnhnms and he starts sharing information about Europe. The master horse is astonished by knowing the fact that Yahoos can be so rational to make ships and sea voyages. Gulliver explains to him that like the Yahoos are irrational animals here on this island, horses or Houyhnhnms are irrational beasts in Europe with much less developed rational faculty. The master horse agrees that reason will always outpower brutal force and if Yahoos of Europe are more reasonable than Houyhnhnms then they may become the masters. Gulliver then tries to explain that there are some distinct differences between Yahoos and European men but the master horse notices that all such differences make European men far worse. He criticizes the weak body structure of Gulliver and his inability to walk on four limbs. He wonders how weak the body of Gulliver which needs clothes as outer protection. Gulliver then tells everything about his voyage but he finds it hard to explain the acts of the pirates who robbed his ship and imprisoned him because the Houyhnhnm language has no words for “power, government, war, law, punishment” and many other such things. Gulliver continues to tell stories about European culture for two years. He recounts how various European states continue fighting against each other. The master horse comments that such wars are totally irrational but he thinks that such wars cannot be as bloodthirsty and devastating as the wars of Yahoos because Europeans like Gulliver do not have as strong claws as those of Yahoos. But then Gulliver informs the master horse about the assault weapons and artillery to which the master horse gets disgusted. He says that no rational species can cause such atrocities on others and thus, it appears that Europeans are no better than the Yahoos. Gulliver then explains the science and law of European people and tells that lawyers are those who are paid to establish a lie as the truth. Gulliver finds it difficult to explain what a lie is as Houyhnhnms has no concept of a lie or fraud. The master horse is then astonished to know that such intelligent people like lawyers would indulge in such heinous activities to which Gulliver says that lawyers are not intelligent, rather they are “the most ignorant and stupid generation among us” in all matters apart from the law. He tries to explain the concept of money and greed which inspires the lawyers to side with lies and fraud. Gulliver then explains the system of government, monarchy, aristocracy, nobility, senators, and so on. The master horse remarks that Gulliver appears much better than Yahoos because he must be from some noble family. Gulliver encounters him and says that in Europe, all nobles look sick, sallow, and weak because they are raised “in idleness and luxury” and debauchery. Thus, in Europe, “a healthy robust appearance” always signifies a low birth like Gulliver’s.
Gulliver then mentions that while living with the Houyhnhnms, he realized all the follies of human beings and the evils of human society. He wishes never to return to human society. The master horse comments that the European Yahoos are “animals, to whose share…some small pittance of reason had fallen” of which they made no use than “to aggravate…natural corruptions and…acquire new ones.” The master horse then concludes that the European Yahoos are worse than the Yahoos of his land because European Yahoos lack physical strength, swiftness, agility, and strong claws. The master horse says that Europeans use clothes to hide their bodies because just like the Yahoos of Hoyuhnhnms, they loath each other’s bodies. He further mentions other similarities between European Yahoos and Yahoos of his land such as they greedily hoard food; overeat; purge; suffer sickness from immoderation, seek intoxication; live in filth; suck up to their leaders, then throw their excrement at that leader as soon as he is replaced; lust after and hoard jewels; suffer malaise when indolent, and indulge the grotesque lust of their females.
Gulliver continues to observe and learn the ways of Houyhnhnms and this further increases his love for them. He observes that their reason is so perfect and absolute that they never have disagreements or differences of opinion. They love all of their species equally and treat their relations as well as they treat neighbors and strangers. They don’t show their children affection but instead educate them in reason. The Houyhnhmns practice planning and their marriages are arranged by the elders of the family and they do not think of “courtship, love, presents, jointures, or settlements.” The children of Houyhnhmns are educated in “temperance, industry, exercise…cleanliness,” “strength, speed, and hardiness,” and both genders receive the same kind and degree of education. Gulliver explains that the Houyhnhnms have no words for evil and thus, to express anything bad, they “borrow from the deformities or ill qualities of the Yahoos” and simply append the word “Yahoo” to the word of the thing. One day, while bathing Gulliver sees his own reflection in the water, he is disgusted and he aspires as much as possible to imitate the physical characteristics of a horse. On the same day, a servant of the master horse comes to Gulliver and says that his secret has been revealed to everyone and the council of Houyhnhnms has decided that it was wrong of the master horse to live with a Yahoo. The council has decided that Gulliver must be sent back to his land. Gulliver gets very upset by this news and he faints. The master horse also doesn’t want Gulliver to go but he has to accept the decision of the council. Thus, Gulliver makes a canoe of the skin of the Yahoos and prepares for his return journey. While leaving the land of Houyhnhnms, Gulliver kisses the hoof of the master horse and pays his respect. Gulliver decides that he would search for an uninhabited island and will live alone rather than return to the world of Yahoos. He succeeds in finding a lonely island but soon he is attacked by savages who hurt his knee with their arrows. He goes back to the sea and after some days, a Portuguese merchandise ship captained by Don Pedro de Mendez notices his canoe and reaches out to him to help. However, Gulliver is adamant about not taking any help. The captain forcefully takes him onboard. All the crew members are baffled by Gulliver’s resolution not to return to live with Yahoos and laugh at his horsey voice and strange clothes. Gulliver struggles to get free and jump back into the sea. A crew member notices him trying to do so and captures him before he may jump off. Gulliver is then chained to his cabin. Gulliver is repulsed by the sight of the humans around him. During the rest of the journey, Don Pedro treats Gulliver very tenderly and tries to revive his love for humanity. He makes Gulliver promise not to kill himself. When they reach Portugal, he takes Gulliver to his home and offers new clothes to him. At last, Gulliver is sent back to England. But he doesn't like living with his wife and children. He soon buys two horses never to sit or ride on them but only to treat them tenderly. He doesn’t like any human being except the servant groom who takes care of his horses because he smells like horses. In the last part, Gulliver explains why he never tried to conquer and claim the lands he visited while criticizing the colonial mindset of European powers.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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