The People of Gulliver's Travels

The character of Gulliver in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels observes that his people, and humankind altogether, are "Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech; but making no other use of reason than to improve and multiply those vices, whereof their brethren in this country had only the share that nature allotted to them" (Swift, 2451).

I think that if this statement is examined with respect to the word choices and their placements, as well as the connotations that are both present and eluded (for purposes of helping readers notice the stark differences between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos) within this statement, the answer to the question of whether or not we as readers are to go along with what Swift writes, as well as the solution to whether or not the Houyhnhnms represent what humans should be will be discovered.

Swift seems to be using the example of the Yahoos to remind us of the kind of human beings we are on the inside, and then telling us of who we could be, provided that we lose sight of how to choose our words and thoughts carefully, because if we don't we'll end up corrupting the sense of reason that was given to us, just as the Yahoos have done. Swift tells both sides of the story of this strange land, and in doing so he allows us as readers to see the more balanced example in which the "true" form of reason is used-that kind which includes the knowledge that with actions bring consequences, both short and long-term (in the society of the Houyhnhnms) right alongside the words, thoughts, and actions of the Yahoos, which demonstrate the misguided use of reason.

When Gulliver observes that people are "a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech" (2451), I felt as though he was commenting more about us as humans through a comparison (and somewhat of a contrast) with the Yahoos. Gulliver adds that humans as Yahoos are only wanting "to improve and multiply those vices," (2451) two of which I interpreted to be the ability to speak and the fact that they are only slightly more civilized than humans as we think of them today, at least, as Gulliver points out, "in shape and disposition."

Within that, then, I see Swift's point nestled into the idea(s) that yes, Yahoos are able to speak, but the problem with that (as with some human speech today) is that people in our later era, as Gulliver points out with the phrase "those vices," often use speech itself in an ineffective manner, like we envision the end result of following through with a vice to be. With regards to reason, then, and its misuse by the Yahoos, I think of that as a sort of inner speech, like a conscience. I also found it interesting that Swift chose to describe the Yahoos as having the "gift" of speech, both internally and verbally, and I think that when we look closer at that particular idea, we can perhaps plainly see that because the Yahoos see their ability to converse and reason through things as a gift, then perhaps they feel as though those gifts won't be rescinded or that because they are given to them then all the ways in which they can be used for good and for evil will be explained and perhaps monitored in some way.

Furthermore, I think that it's also even more interesting that, given that Swift has made the only main difference between Yahoos and humans is a degree of civility, the Yahoos are depicted as wanting to get more of those two vices, and not only that, but also wanting to improve those vices, which to me says that they are attempting to pass on their misguided teachings not just in quantity, but also in terms of quality. I think that Swift is trying to make a point that if a certain kind of misguided or misinterpreted teaching isn't having enough of a following, then the Yahoos will try and "improve" that misguided creed, which I think is ironic because I don't feel that you can improve an argument that seems, by today's standards, to be heading in the wrong direction from the outset. That said, I think his argument is that one cannot improve an idea that is misinterpreted, so the ironic alternative is to manipulate the speech in a way that seems more effective, but actually isn't. If you multiply a vice, as the Yahoos do, I think that you're only serving to create more problems out of an initial problem, made even more detrimental if you or your society (i.e, the Yahoos) are the ones who purported the mistaken idea as the ultimate truth.

Lastly, I thought Swift's final words were particularly interesting because he seems to switch from talking about the Yahoo-human relationship in terms of the time during his trip, to then reflecting upon how he sees the Yahoos once back in the very society about which he is talking.

He writes, "...their brethren in this country had only the share that nature allotted them." I think that if this moment is examined in a retrospective manner (yet still ironically relevant even in our time today), we can see that Swift is perhaps saying that his people, then, "their [the Yahoos] brethren" have really only that kind of example which the nature of the Yahoos' disposition "allotted them " or provided them with, at least as Swift's Gulliver sees the Yahoos, once back interacting with his own people.

Finally, in considering whether or not Swift is trying to get us as readers to go to the Houyhnhnms side of reason, I think that, while the Houyhnhnms' viewpoints of an ideal society aren't totally without fault, they possess that sense of how the truer form of reason works, and thus live according to it. In contrast to the Yahoos misguided definition of how to interpret and use reason to live with healthy and understanding minds, clearly the Houyhnhnms way is the more reasonable choice between the two societies.