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Andy Freiman
Ms. Smit
12 AP English
March 27 2015
Independent Novel #3: Gullivers Travels
1. I freely confessI fell to imitate their gait and gesture (Swift 277)
In this passage, readers are for the first time introduced to Gullivers infatuation with the
Houyhnhnm society and begin to see his disgust with his own English people. Gulliver himself
even begins to believe that he himself is a Houyhnhnm as he fell to imitate their gait and
gesture and became disgusted at the sight of his reflection, showing his disgust for humankind.
The Houyhnhnms, being a species of horses that enslave humans referred to as Yahoos, will
never fully commit to making Gulliver one of their own even though he is clearly different from
the other Yahoos in his education and appearance. Gulliver saw the island of the Houyhnhnms as
the ideal society that expressed all the best aspects of human nature. The Houyhnhnms did not
lie, fight, nor feared death, and were not ashamed of anything nature provided for them. Gulliver
had the opportunity to communicate with these creatures and quickly learn their language and
culture, which propelled his desire to join the community. Although this society may be seen as a
utopia, Swifts decision to portray the inhabitants as horses expresses the idea that this is an
unachievable society for humankind, therefore confirming Gullivers inability to fully assimilate
into the Houyhnhnm culture. His love of the culture causes Gulliver to gradually become
disgusted with his home of England, which is seen at the ending of the novel when he returns

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home and is tortured by the sight and smell of another human. As he states in the passage,
Gulliver viewed his countrymen as Yahoos, in shape and disposition, only a little more
civilized. Gulliver is displaying the ideas that Swift has been expressing throughout the novel as
he satirized the vices of humankind. Gullivers repulsion with his own kind and adoration of the
Houyhnhnms shows how the ideal society is unattainable.
2.

After reading Gullivers Travels, I believe that it should remain as part of the literary

canon. Swift writes a successful satire piece on the various attributes of humankind. Readers
follow the speaker as he finds himself on four very different islands, each with an indigenous
race that highlights a characteristic of humankind. The first island of the Lilliputians, a race of
miniature people who happen to be the most proud of all the races in the novel, satirizes the
excessive pride some people feel even though their place in the world is miniscule. The second
part of the novel depicts Gullivers account of the Brobdingnagians, almost a complete foil to the
Lilliputians. The Brobdingnagians are a race of giants who are meek and detest violence.
Gulliver is thought of as a doll to the giants and this relationship allows him to see into the
private life of the Brobdingnagians and comment on their actions that many humans exhibit. The
Laputans of the third island satirize the stupidity of the educated. Although the Laputans seem to
be the wisest people of the novel, as Gulliver discusses their Academy, readers become aware
that the Laputans are, in fact, a race of unreasonable people who have no concern for the
problems of the real world around them. The Houyhnhnms of the final island symbolize the
utopian society that Gulliver had dreamed of. His experience with the Houyhnhnms changes
Gulliver to distrust the humankind he encounters when he returns home, thus signifying the
drastic gap between human nature and the ideal society. In Gullivers Travels, Jonathan Swift

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delivers an effective discussion on human nature that comments on the timeless characteristics of
humankind, which is why it should remain as part of the literary canon.
3. Often in literature, a character experiences an event that drastically alters their perception of
reality and the norm. In a well-organized essay, discuss a characters transformation of mind and
its effect on the overall meaning of the novel.

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Works Cited
Jonathan, Swift. Gullivers Travels. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.