1
JONATHAN SWIFT
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: BOOK 4: “A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE
HOUYHNHNMS”
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Gulliver’s Travels, published in 1755, is considered one of the greatest satires in world literature.
2. A. satire is a literary work which through humor and wit ridicules vices, follies, and abuses in people and society in order to improve human institutions and humanity.
3. Gulliver’s Travels has four books.
In the first voyage, an English ship doctor Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked in the empire of Lilliput. Thee he finds himself among a ______people, one-twelfth his size (c. six inches tall).
These poodle-sized creatures turn out to be so malicious, vengeful, cruel, and filled with overweening pride that Gulliver concludes that the Lilliputians are not only ______in stature, but are also ______“small.”
4. In the second book, Gulliver is abandoned by his shipmates in Brobdingnag, a land of ______, creates ______times larger than him (c. 70 feet tall).
Though he initially fears that such monsters must be ______, the reverse proves to be the case.
Brobdingnag is something of a utopia, governed by a humane and an enlightened ______who is the embodiment of moral and political ______.
However, a stubborn Gulliver, exhibiting a foolish pride, leaves this land believing that his native ______and Europe are superior to Brobdingnag.
5. In the third book, Gulliver, who had been captured and abandoned by pirates, is rescued by the inhabitants of a ______island.
He is allowed to visit its home base, Laputa (a pun on the Spanish la puta, meaning “the prostitute”) since the leaders of this country have perverted the use of God-given human ______and have thus become irrational beings.
Although the “gullible” Gulliver praises the Laputans’ scientific, political and economic experiments, Swift subliminally points outtheir ______and impracticality.
6. In these first three books of Gulliver’s Travels, which deal with the contrastive ______nature of a human being (the conflicts of ______vs. emotions and of mind vs. ______) and the destructiveness of human ______, prepare for book 4, Swift’s most vehement denunciation of the ______species.
II. CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS OF THE THEMES, PLOT, AND SYMBOLISM OF BOOK 4
CHAPTER 1
1. At the end of book 4, Gulliver will see himself and all other humans as animals. What are three major events even as early as chapter 1 which point him in that direction? Think of how he got on the island, what the man-looking beasts do to him, and what the horse does.
(1) The last humans he views are ______, the worst specimen of human beings.
(2) The man-looking beasts ______him with their ______.
(3) The appearance of the horse makes the beasts flee; thus the horse, in effect, ______Gulliver.
2. Describe the Yahoos.
Their shape is human-like or ape-like; however, they are bearded like ______; their heads, chests, and part of their backs are covered with thick ______; and they are yellow-brownish in ______.
Gulliver comments, “Upon the whole, I never beheld in all my travels so ______an animal, or one against which I naturally conceived so strong an ______.”
3. What contrast between beasts and humans is stressed in this chapter?
(1) The creatures whose behavior is bestial are ______in appearance.
(2) The creatures whose behavior is rational or human are ______in appearance.
4. Where are the two words “Yahoo” and “Houyhnhnm” first introduced in the text, and why these names?
Houyhnhnm is introduced on p. 192; the footnote there states that it is pronounced as "whinnims," a word suggesting the ______characteristic of a horse.
Yahoo is also introduced in that paragraph. Yahoo is probably meant as a
compound of two expressions of disgust, ______and ______(or ______), common in the 18th century. "Yahoo" also contains a backward spelling of "hay," which ______feed on, suggesting that the Yahoos are the exact reverse of the Houyhnhnms.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
CHAPTER 2
1. What does Gulliver keep hoping to see as he walks with the horses and enters the house?
Humans; he believes the horses are ______who have changed themselves into horses.
2. What does Gulliver realize when the master Houyhnhnm places him next to a captured Yahoo?
Gulliver is horrified to see a ______resemblance between himself and the Yahoo.
3. An old horse, along with many other horse-guests, comes to view the stranger. Who pulls this carriage, and what does Gulliver now learn?
Four ______draw the carriage; Gulliver learns that on this island the ______are the masters and the ______are their servants.
4. By p. 197, what does Gulliver plan to do, confessing thereby that he does not see himself as either a Yahoo or a Houyhnhnm?
He plans to ______as quickly as possible from the island "to creatures of my own ______" (197).
5. How long did Gulliver stay in Houyhnhnmland?
For ______years.
6. That first evening (and thereafter) where does Gulliver say he slept, and what may this suggest symbolically?
In a shed, midway between the ______of the captured Yahoos and the ______of the Houyhnhnms. This dwelling suggests the middle state of all humans, midway between the ______and the ______, according to the Great Chain of Being which we have studied.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
CHAPTER 3
1. Do the Houyhnhnms ever consider Gulliver to be anything other than a Yahoo?
No. His master Houyhnhnm considers him to be a "______" (198) or a highly gifted or talented Yahoo.
2. What is an implied criticism of the Houyhnhnms on p. 199?
They are narrow-minded; the master Houyhnhnm can not conceive that there is a ______beyond the sea, inhabited by Yahoos who could make ______which could travel on the sea. "He was sure no ______alive could make such a ______, or would trust ______to manage it" (199).
3. What is the definition of "lying"?
"The thing which was _____" (199).
4. What does the word "Houyhnhnm" mean?
"The ______" (199).
5. Gulliver does not see himself as a Yahoo, but he knows the Houyhnhnms do. What does Gulliver do to try to deceive the Houyhnhnms that his body is not perfectly like that of a Yahoo?
He tries to hide from the Houyhnhnms that his ______are not part of his body.
6. How are the master Houyhnhnm's views on nudity similar to those expressed by Aphra Behn in Oroonoko? Like Behn, the Houyhnhnm asks why should Gulliver's race conceal what ______has provided (200).
7. After seeing Gulliver naked, the master Houyhnhnm proclaims Gulliver as a "perfect ______" (201). Now what does Gulliver begin to hate, and how does this show he is being BRAINWASHED?
His ______; this self-contempt is the first step in his BRAINWASHING, for Gulliver is coming to see himself as the ______see him.
8. The Houyhnhnms say they have no word for lying, but ironically what "lie" does the master Houyhnhnm agree to on p. 201?
He agrees not to reveal the ______about Gulliver’s ______.
9. Further BRAINWASHING is seen on p. 202 when, to please the master Houyhnhnm, Gulliver is afraid to tell the ______about how horses are treated in Europe.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
CHAPTER 4
1. The Master is greatly disturbed to learn that in Gulliver's homeland the ______are the masters and the horses are ______, and that they are even ______by the Yahoos, used to ______carriages or ______in the fields , and the males are often ______to make them gentler.
2. What is significant, however, is that Gulliver has stopped referring to human beings as human beings; instead he calls the people of Europe “______” (203). Thus he is accepting the “words" of the Houyhnhnms, a second step in his ______.
3. Obviously unsettled by this account of how Houyhnhnms are treated in England, what does the Houyhnhnm master say as a counterargument?
He contends that ______could never rule ______since they are so ______inferior, not only to Houyhnhnms but also to ______. "He then began to find ______with . . . parts of my ______" (204).
4. The BRAINWASHING continues, for in running down Gulliver’s ______, the master Houyhnhnm makes Gulliver doubt his own physical nature.
5. Gulliver is being forced to see the physical ______in himself, but he is not given time to contemplate that he is physically a ______, not a Yahoo.
6. In asking Gulliver how he got to the Houyhnhnm island, the master forces Gulliver to describe what group of men? What faulty assumption does the Houyhnhnm make?
The ______. They are the ______type of human beings, but the Houyhnhnm jumps to the false ______that these are representative of all humans, the ______type of human beings.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
CHAPTER 5
1. At the end of the first paragraph of chapter 5, Gulliver speaks of "our ______English" (207)? How is this a continuation of Gulliver's BRAINWASHING?
Gulliver begins to doubt the sufficiency of his native ______, a prelude to his doubting the goodness of his own ______and its ______.
2. What two aspects of society are addressed by Gulliver in this chapter?
War (particularly ______wars) (207) and ______(210).
3. Gulliver's picture of these institutions is similar to those criticisms which Swift himself expressed in other writings. Wars which use the pretext of religion and ______abuse are bad, but Gulliver (probably because he has been BRAINWASHED to please his master Houyhnhnm) presents only the bad side of religion and law. An abuse of ______belief or of ______institutions does not make all religious ______or all legal institutions ______.
4. The supposedly rational Houyhnhnm does not see the fault with Gulliver’s presentation. Instead, the Houyhnhnm concludes that Yahoos in England use what small reason they have “to increase" their "natural ______" (209).
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
CHAPTER 6
1. In this chapter the master Houyhnhnm continues to press Gulliver to examine his own society. Again Gulliver (still probably wishing to say what he feels the master wants him to say) dwells on some of the worst aspects of human beings. What are they?
(1) Money: Most human beings think only of money and are consumed with ______; the few ______live off of the many ______(212).
(2) Luxury: "I assured him, that the whole globe of earth must be at least three times gone round, before one of our better female Yahoos could get her ______" and "In order to feed the ______. . . of males, and the ______of females, we sent away the greatest part of our necessary things to other countries" (212-13).
(3) Disease: Wine and bad eating habits cause most of the people of England to be ______-ridden, while the master Houyhnhnm interposes that there is no ______among the Houyhnhnms, but there is among the ______, on their island (213-14).
(4) Government: Gulliver describes the English government as dominated by greed (215), ______(216), and sycophancy (216).
2. The paragraph on Queen Anne (printed on pp. 257-58 in your text) should be
inserted on p. 215. Briefly summarize this insertion. ______
______
______
3. On p. 216, the Houyhnhnm master strangely compliments Gulliver, calling him what? Why does he do so?
He again says that Gulliver could pass “for a ______" (216). The master is pleased with Gulliver’s account of the “Yahoos” of England since it has confirmed the Houyhnhnm ______toward them.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
VII. CHAPTER 7
1. What evidence of BRAINWASHING is given in the first paragraph of Chapter 7? Gulliver says that his Houyhnhnm master had "______convinced me of a thousand ______in ______" (218).
2. In the next paragraph, what “resolution” does Gulliver come to, having lived in Houyhnhnmland for one year?
He resolves "______to return to ______, but to pass the rest of my ______among these ______" (218).
3. The master Houyhnhnm, using Gulliver's history of life in England, comes to a conclusion about the inhabitants of England: They use the "small ______of ______to “aggravate" their "natural ______" (218).
4. In the remainder of this chapter, the master Houyhnhnm states that he sees much of the corrupt behavior of the Europeans in the actions of the Yahoos of Houyhnhnms: The master tells Gulliver that like the Europeans, the Yahoos are ______, make ______on each other, fight over food even when there is an ______of it, delight in shiny ______, bring ______upon themselves through their eating/drinking habits and lack of hygiene, have a ______who has a lackey who "______" his feet and behind, and are sexually ______(especially their ______Yahoos) (219-23).
5. The diatribe of the Houyhnhnm convinces (BRAINWASHES) Gulliver to accept the view that the ______customs of Europe are barbaric.
OTHER COMMENTS: ______
______
______
______
VIII. CHAPTER 8
1. What horrible thing happens to Gulliver on p. 225?
While Gulliver is swimming, he is ______assaulted by a ______Yahoo.
2. What conclusion does Gulliver come to after this occurrence? Why is his reasoning not sound? (225)
Gulliver affirms he is a ______since he attracts a ______Yahoo (and only members of the same species are sexually attracted to each other). This incident is a significant step in Gulliver's BRAINWASHING, and the Houyhnhnms delight in narrating it—“This was a matter of diversion to my master and his family” (225). In truth, however, Gulliver’s reasoning is false because he overlooks that he was not ______to the ______Yahoo.
3. The second half of the chapter presents a picture of Houyhnhnm life. List several aspects of it.
(1) They are "wholly governed by" "______" (225); this ______supposedly allows them to see truth immediately; thus there are no differences of opinion among Houyhnhnms.
(2) The Houyhnhnms do not have a strong sense of ______, treating everyone's colt or foal as they do their own (226).
(3) Population is limited; ______stops after one male offspring and one female offspring have been produced (226). They sometimes exchange children to equalize matters (228).
(4) They do not marry out of ______, but for ______; eugenics is a concern in pairing couples so that strength and comeliness are perpetuated and so that the race will not ______; all marriages are ______; couples never commit ______and never quarrel (226-27).
(5) The education of young male and female Houyhnhnms is basically the ______. There is no especial love between children and ______(227).
4. So BRAINWASHED to accept the "perfection" of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver never considers how ______and repulsive (from a human perspective) the existence of the Houyhnhnm would be, since love, family, free will, and physical pleasures are essential parts of human happiness.
OTHER COMMENTS ______
______
______
______
IX. CHAPTER 9
1. Gulliver has criticized the European governments for their wars which destroy one another, but what is the only issue ever debated at Houyhnhnm general assemblies? (228)
Whether to ______the Yahoos. (Today this attempt to eliminate a species or people is called ______.) The Houyhnhnms conclude that ______would be more easily trained to be their slaves.
2. What is one theory which the Houyhnhnms hold of how the Yahoos came to the Houyhnhnm island? What idea of Behn is Swift attacking here? (229)
The Yahoos probably were ______beings marooned on the island. They "______by degrees" (229), becoming in time more savage than “those of their own species in the country from whence these two originals came” (229). This is an attack on the doctrine of Primitivism, which holds that living away from ______and close to nature will produce the "______savage."
This chapter suggests that living close to nature will make one only more ______and more like an ______.
3. At the Houyhnhnm general council (assembly) held while Gulliver was there, what suggestion of Gulliver’s is debated, thereby showing that the Houyhnhnms can learn from a “Yahoo"? (229-30)
Extermination of the Yahoos by ______.
4. How do the Houyhnhnms face death? (231-32)
They die only of ______age, and without regret (231). Their word for death means "to retire to his first ______” (231). They live between ____ and ____ years, and know approximately when they will die; about ten days before their death, they ______their neighbors a final time (231). Thus they face death calmly.
5. How do the Houyhnhnms express something evil? They add to a word denoting some unexpected or ill-complete action, such as “the folly of a servant” or the mistake of a child or a stone that cuts their feet, the suffix ______(232).
OTHER COMMENTS ______
______
______
______
X. CHAPTER 10
1. What does the listing of the vices of humans on p. 233 show that Gulliver has ceased to do?
He has ceased seeing any ______in human beings, the next to last step in his BRAINWASHING.
2. At the bottom of p. 234, what final broadening of Gulliver’s conception of humanity is presented?
Gulliver states, "When I thought of my ______, my friends, my countrymen, or human race in general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in shape and ______. . . . When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face in ______and ______of myself" (234).
This passage is important because Gulliver includes his own ______in his condemnation of humanity. Also, before he had concentrated only on the physical resemblances between the Yahoos and humans, but now he includes not just shape (body) but "______" (mind). He has further learned to ______himself.
The BRAINWASHING is now complete
3. What decision does the council make regarding Gulliver? Why? What does this decision reveal about the Houyhnhnms? How can this decision be connected with Oroonoko?
The council decides that Gulliver must be ______(235).
The council feels that Gulliver (an above-average Yahoo) might lead the other Yahoos in a ______(235), just as the white slave owners of Surinam had feared that ______would lead the ______in a rebellion.
The decision shows that the Houyhnhnms are not above such human emotions as ______and worry about their self-survival and that their never-erring power of reasoning has ______because they exile Gulliver at the very ______when he has become more loyal to (or most BRAINWASHED by) them.
4. What is comic in Gulliver's farewell?
The spectacle of him bending to kiss the master Houyhnhnm's hoof, only to have it raised "______to my mouth" (238), is humorous since it mimics situations where horses are made to bend their front legs in circus shows.
OTHER COMMENTS ______
______
______
______
XI. CHAPTER 11
1. The farewell comment of the sorrel nag (the horse he liked the most) again suggests that Gulliver has taught the Houyhnhnms something. What? (238)
She calls out, “Take care of thyself, ______Yahoo" (238). This shows a compassion and ______which the Houyhnhnms supposedly had expelled from their lives.
2. Away from Houyhnhnmland, who are the first people whom Gulliver sees? Why is this encounter important psychologically? (240)
Gulliver lands on an island of savages, who ______him. This confirms his view of human beings as being ______.
3. How do Captain Mendez and his sailors treat Gulliver? (pp. 240-44)
The sailors who rescue him and Captain Mendez of the rescuing ship (although non-English foreigners) treat him with ""great ______" (241) and are "very courteous and ______"(241).
But Gulliver has become so obsessed with his view of humans as ______that he is incapable of recognizing the decency of ______beings.
4. How does Gulliver's family treat him? (p. 244)
They welcome him "with great surprise and ______," but “the sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust, and ______" (244).
5. Why does Swift incorporate the Mendez and the family episodes?
To show that Gulliver is ______: Not all Europeans are Yahoos.
6. What does the last paragraph of Chapter 11 suggest about Gulliver's mental state? (244)