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Gulliver's Travels – Comparison of Yahoos to Humans
The comparison of Yahoos to humans in Book Four of Jonathon Swift's Gulliver's Travels is entirely inappropriate. The Yahoos are shown as base creatures of barbaric nature and with little or no aptitude for learning. Swift's use of these lowly creatures to symbolize man is harsh, however, it does serve to enhance his satire to a certain degree. Nonetheless, his comparison is inaccurate and degrading to Mankind.
In his novel, Jonathon Swift uses the Yahoo, a creature with a great likeness to humans except in the amount of hair and the colors of their skin, to represent the nature of Man. He implies that we are all "...strong and hardy, but of a cowardly Spirit, and by consequence, insolent, abject, and cruel."(p. ). Perhaps he is right about some people, but this is not true of all Mankind. Most people are not insolent or cruel, and many have truly courageous Spirits. Any man or woman who joins the army in the time of the "War on Terrorism" can not be a coward. In the World Wars, millions of people died for the love of their country, can you call that cowardice?
As well, millions of institutions of higher learning have been established across the world. The Yahoos are shown to be ignorant and without any ability to learn. Human beings are constantly in the pursuit of knowledge, going to extreme lengths to satiate their boundless curiosity for the way things work within their world, and even without. Without a doubt, many human beings possess similar qualities to those of the Yahoos. We are capable of great cruelty, but also of great compassion. We can be insolent and rude, or we can be respectful and polite. We can be cowardly, but we are also capable of great feats of bravery. Mankind is not limited to the aspects of his nature that are unpleasant; he is constantly striving to surpass those negative characteristics.
Swift's comparison may be inaccurate, but it is also quite effective. In one's mind's eye, one can almost see the lowly creatures. Picking out only those negative aspects of our natures and magnifying them allows us to see them clearly, without making excuses for ourselves.
American farmers found themselves facing hard times after the Civil War. In the West, the railroad had opened up enormous opportunities. Farmers were now able to cultivate land that had previously been to far from the Eastern markets to make a profit. However, that opportunity came at a price. The farmers increasing dependence on the railroads and other commercial interests made them an easy target for exploitative business practices.
High prices forced farmers to concentrate on one crop. The large-scale farmers bought expensive machines, increasing their crop yield. This caused the smaller farmers to be left behind. The small farmers could no longer compete and were forced give up their farms and look for jobs in the cities. The smaller farmers who stayed blamed their troubles on banks and railroads. In the 1890’s western and southern farmers came together to make up the political party called the Populist Party. Their plan was to take control of the White House; then they could solve all their problems.
Past the political satire and laughable motifs in the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the purpose of this story is to show everything ignoble and tactless of the human species in general and that humans are truly disgusting. Also exploring the idea of a utopia. Swift uses the literary device of political satire to show how childish and ignorant human acts were. This is because during Swift's time in the eighteenth century, Britain was modernizing at this time. The reader follows the four narrative travels of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver. Each of the four voyages Gulliver has traveled to, is a different society that portrays one of the main ideals of the eighteenth century in Britain. The four places Gulliver has traveled to were Lilliput; being Gulliver's first voyage, Brobdingnag; his second voyage, Laputa; the third voyage, and lastly to the land of the Houyhnhms; being his last voyage and afterwards traveling back home to England. The experience from being exposed to these four societies has had a huge impact on how Gulliver now sees humans.
During the early 1780’s farmers in Massachusetts were in great crisis because the land and the resources in which they used to start their farming were been taking away by the government. During the 1780’s farmers mainly borrowed money, land and even sometimes equipment they use to work on their farmland. There was great demand for organic crops during these times because of the war, and when the war ended this lead to a relative decrease in the demand for farmers goods which put the farmers in a very though positions because if the demand of their crops weren’t high enough then they wouldn’t be able to pay off their loans and equipment that they had borrowed during the years. Unfortunately the state government demanded taxes and even threaten
In the writing's of the Jonathan Swift we can clearly see issues and concepts with regard to morality, ethics and relations come into play in our society and in Gulliver's Travels, Swift brings those issues to the for front for everyone to see and analyze. The very concepts and beliefs that man holds dear Swift attacks and strongly justifies his literary aggression thought the construct of the society of the Houyhnahnms who truly leads a just and humane society that we as humans (Yahoos) have the faintest concept of. As I will later point out, Swift also deals with human ignorance and the overall belief that nothing in this earth can be more civilized and exert more reason then us. He uses the characters of the Houyhnahnms to demonstrate our inadequacies and overall failures to exert and practice true reason. Issues such as war, corruption, rape, homosexuality, lying (false representation), slavery, bribery, greed, and murder does not exist in a society that understands the true meaning of reason. We can clearly see the metamorphosis of Gulliver from is departure from his wife and children to being mutinied to his initial encounter with the Yahoos as well as the Houyhnahnms, to his experiences over a 5 year period in his interactions with the Houyhnhnms to his departure and return home to his wife and kids we can clearly see the change from a man (yahoo) to a Houyhnhnm (in spirit). So as we take a closer look at Gulliver's travels, we will see that the Voyage of the Houyhnhnm is about change, understanding, and clarity of oneself, his beliefs, morals and values.
Jonathan Swift is one of the best known satirists in the history of literature. When one reads his works, especially something like Gulliver’s Travels, it is easy for one to spot the misanthropic themes, which emerge within his characterization. Lamuel Gulliver is an excellent protagonist: a keen observer, and a good representative of his native England, but one who loses faith in mankind as his story progresses. He ends up in remote areas of the world all by accidents in his voyages. In each trip, he is shipwrecked and mysteriously arrives to lands never before seen by men. This forms an interesting rhythm in the novel: as Gulliver is given more and more responsibility, he tends to be less and less in control.
West, Cornel and Salzman, Jack. Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History. New York: Schuster and Simon and the trustees of Columbia University Press, 1996.
During the war, Mrs. Augspurger became known as a "Rosy Riveter", a young housewife who worked in the factories while the men were away at war. She worked at Wrights Aeronautics and Ford Automotive. The aeronautics plant made sheet metal for the planes, and of course Ford Automotive made automobiles. However, unlike many housewives, Mrs. Augspurger continued to work long after the end of the war. She celebrated the end of the war by buying a new used car, decorating it, and driving it up-town horns blaring. It was a day to rejoice!
Significant changes in farming began to occur at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Between the American Revolution and the Civil War, tens of thousands of farmers surged westward to settle on the rich lands of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. [1]The...
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2492-2633. Print.
...nt mankind deprived” (cliffnotes). The Yahoos are used to satirize what European’s are as human beings: “Why is it that we don’t mind being called Yahoos, although firmly convinced that we are not Yahoos” (Politics vs. Literature). European’s are Yahoos because they can never be perfect and devoid of basic instinct like the Houyhnhnms. Swift is using this image to show English society we are more Yahoo than we can ever be Houyhnhnm.
In the fourth voyage, Swift presents a case study for opposing states of nature, with the Yahoos representing the argument that man is governed by his passions, seeking his own advantage, pursuing pleasures and avoiding pain, and the Houyhnhnms representing the argument that man is governed by reason. If this is the case, then Swift’s misanthropy was such that he saw men as the foul and disgusting Yahoos, and made it plain that reform of the species was out of the question. A major fault with this theory is that it leaves no place for Gulliver. When attention is drawn to the figure of Gulliver himself, as distinct from his creator, Swift, he is taken to be the moral of the story. If you can't be a Houyhnhnm you don't need to be a Yahoo; just try to be like Gulliver. The trouble with this idea is that when taking a closer look at Gulliver, he isn't worth emulating. The final picture of him talking with the horses in the stable for four hours a day, unable to stand the company of his own family, makes him look foolish. Another theory is that Gulliver made a mistake in regarding the Houyhnhnms as models to be emulated: so far from being admirable creatures they are as repulsive as the Yahoos. The Yahoos might be ruled by their passions, but these have no human passions at all. On this view, Swift was not advocating, but attacking reason.
...Chain of Being. Although human are reasonable beings, Swift argues that the amount of reason is not enough to overcome the desire for power. Thus, instead of using reason to create peace and harmony in the world, powerful countries allow desire to overtake their conscious and produce chaos under the name of “Divine Right”. As Gulliver tries to relate his society to the Houyhnhnms’; he comes to accept that reason in human does not help to improve humanity but only to breed barbarity because they use reason to justify their heinous actions.
Businesses prospered near the late nineteenth century. Many monopolies, centralized banks, and trust were produced due to this industrialization rush. Standard Oil company, Carnegie Steel company and other large vicious companies dominated not only laborers and farmers, but the governors and their regulations. There was a deep strive for efficiency and effectively making a profit only to their benefit, leaving other classes to fall apart. Farmers were the most endangered group of citizens. These businesses and corporations found ways to manipulate the government ridding of competition for farmers. Farmers feared for their production and consumer production. With the lack of competition and prices of their products through the roof, consumer will not be able to purchase items and farmers will not make a profit from what th...
“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” - Masanobu Fukuoka. That’s something people don’t understand about agriculture in the past, the present, and the future. Farming and agriculture is more than just planting a field and harvesting it, it’s a way of life. Generations molded and lived their life around farming. It’s a way to live, a way to make money, and a way to eat. So when you wake up in the morning and pour your cereal or throw your bread in the toaster, thank a farmer. For today, I’m here to talk about the Agricultural Revolution and how it transformed the way of life and triggered the Industrial Revolution.