17 February 2009
Houynhymns and Yahoos
Basically, in Gulliver's Travels, Johnathan is writing form a satire point of view. In the land of the Houynhymns and yahoos, the foolishness is evident through the talking horses and the savage like humans. Houynhymns, the horses are the superior species and reflected only the best qualities. On the other hand, the Yahoos who were most resembled humans were savages that acted as if they were animals. They were primitive and violent for no apparent reasons. In our world this is a complete opposite, humans are superior and horses caged like wild beast.
Similarly, the Yahoos collected rocks strange to the Houynhymns. The Rocks were shiny and we humans would call them diamonds. The Yahoos spent hours digging to covet these strange rocks. The Houynhymns saw these rocks to have no value but today we would spend millions for the smallest chip of that very rock. The Houynhymns get along peacefully and have no hidden vices or need for material things. They are the models of what the human race should be like.
Therefore, this story cast the humans as being uncontrolled and as the inferior ones, It tells us that we are not as intelligent and civilized as we may like to think. Gulliver uses all of the qualities that we have begun to call normal and shows them for what they really are. He brought to light the aggression, the territorial disputes, the matting habits, and the need for possessions that all the Yahoos share. Just the same, he uses the horses to bring out the best qualities that humans should have kindness and compassion.