Houyhnhnms and Yahoos in “Gulliver’s Travels” by Swift
In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift presents a sharp contrast between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos, using these groups to critique human nature and society. The Houyhnhnms, who pride themselves on reason and superiority, treat the Yahoos, a human-like species, as subservient animals. However, this self-perceived superiority leads the Houyhnhnms to ignore their own flaws and emotional suppression. Swift highlights the hypocrisy of the Houyhnhnms, showing that their rigid, emotionless existence is ultimately inferior to the more passionate and free-spirited Yahoos.
References
Kupske, Felipe Flores, and Márcia de Souza. “The Smell of the Yahoos: The Eighteenth-Century England in the Novel Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.” Revista e-scrita: Revista do Curso de Letras da UNIABEU, vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, pp. 38-49.
Reznikov, Andrey. “Swift’s Language of Houyhnhnms and Its Influence on Orwell’s Newspeak.” The Image of Adventure in Literature, Media, and Society, 2019, pp. 79-84.
Serdar, Hamdi Ali. “Gulliver’s Travels: An Example of Alienation.” Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 18, no. 2, 2019, pp. 695-708.
Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. 1st World Library, 2004.
Reference
StudyCorgi. (2025, January 9). Houyhnhnms and Yahoos in “Gulliver’s Travels” by Swift. https://studycorgi.video/houyhnhnms-and-yahoos-in-gullivers-travels-by-swift/