It is best to cultivate reason, and to be governed by it. According to Lemuel Gulliver, of the book Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, when discussing the main maxim by Houyhnhnms. Gulliver's Travels is a political satire focused on mocking the human race and its ridiculous ideals. This is seen through the descriptions and ideologies of the Laputans Gulliver visits on the flying island, as well as the Yahoos he observes on Houyhnhnm land. The Laputans are a group of people who focus much on mathematics and music, even developing a university, known as the Lagado Royal Academy, which is an allusion to the Royal Society. The yahoos are a group of people that are not very developed and referred to as gross and unintelligent beings.
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Gulliver's view is used to show how bad he thinks the people of society are. He realizes that without clothing and more hair, he is exactly like a yahoo and has trouble wrapping his head around the idea that all people are yahoos. The yahoos are hairy, show much aggression towards each other, have open sexual desire, and most importantly, show open greed. In the story, Gulliver said, “ That in the fields where these shining stones abound, the fiercest and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighboring Yahoos” (Swift, 197). This shows how they have many battles due to their greed. They fight over minerals because they want them and are not willing to compromise. They represent many of the natural behaviors humans have and are open about them. Also, the fact that Gulliver has clothing and does not show actions like the yahoos is because he believed their actions weren't at all similar to each other. However, the clothing is just a cloak, something for people to hide behind. Without clothing people are vulnerable and they hide behind clothing all the greed, aggression, and sexual desires they have. Because the yahoos do not have any clothing, they are fully able to show what the human society is without hiding some insecurities and false personas. Thus, the yahoos were placed on Houyhnhnm land to show how humans act in relation to more intellectual beings like the horses that uses rational behavior and reason. Unlike the yahoos or humans, who rely on behavior and ideals that do not get along with
Gulliver's view is used to show how bad he thinks the people of society are. He realizes that without clothing and more hair, he is exactly like a yahoo and has trouble wrapping his head around the idea that all people are yahoos. The yahoos are hairy, show much aggression towards each other, have open sexual desire, and most importantly, show open greed. In the story, Gulliver said, “ That in the fields where these shining stones abound, the fiercest and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighboring Yahoos” (Swift, 197). This shows how they have many battles due to their greed. They fight over minerals because they want them and are not willing to compromise. They represent many of the natural behaviors humans have and are open about them. Also, the fact that Gulliver has clothing and does not show actions like the yahoos is because he believed their actions weren't at all similar to each other. However, the clothing is just a cloak, something for people to hide behind. Without clothing people are vulnerable and they hide behind clothing all the greed, aggression, and sexual desires they have. Because the yahoos do not have any clothing, they are fully able to show what the human society is without hiding some insecurities and false personas. Thus, the yahoos were placed on Houyhnhnm land to show how humans act in relation to more intellectual beings like the horses that uses rational behavior and reason. Unlike the yahoos or humans, who rely on behavior and ideals that do not get along with