Hate the Sin, But not the Sinner
One of Swift’s many creations in “Gulliver’s Travels: Part 4” is none other than the Yahoos, creatures that carry a striking similarity with human beings according to Gulliver’s observations. Gulliver’s utter praise for the wise Houyhnhnms, who are akin to horses while on the opposite spectrum, his absolute disgust for the Yahoos that remind the reader much of mankind may clarify a widely accepted notion that Swift is indeed a misanthrope, a hater of humanity. Yet on the other hand, “in a letter to Alexander Pope [Swift] endeavor[s] to counter the charge, insisting that while he ha[s] ‘ever hated all nations, professions, and communities,’ he did indeed love ‘individuals’” (Black 1255). Therefore, this essay further argues this claim that Swift has not completely lost all hope for mankind’s redemption by articulating 1) how the Yahoos only represent a part of humanity instead of the whole, 2) Man’s behavioral disparity from these Yahoos, and 3) the central idea that, for Man, whether to be a Yahoo or not is completely dependent upon his judgment due to his individuality and free will.
It is unquestionable how Swift purposefully added similarities between humans and Yahoos, but instead of blaming the entire human race by accusing them of being Yahoos, he merely uses these Yahoos as a representation only for the sins and vices practiced throughout the history of mankind. There is evidence within the text that the Yahoos may be a degenerated species originating from humans since “many ages ago two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain… and their brood in a short time grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole nation” (Swift 1356). Therefore, based on the literal meaning of the text, the Yahoos depict Man in a state of nature; however, there are other indications that suggest another understanding of these creatures — natural savagery as a reflection of the incivilities done across European civilization. For example, when Gulliver describes “a first or chief minister of state,” he states that these ministers demonstrate “a furious zeal in public assemblies” and claims how “such zealots prove always the most obsequious and subservient to the will and passions of their master” (Swift 1349). From this account, the reader can then observe the exact same phenomena prevalent in the Yahoo society, as if it mirrors the Europeans since there is also a chief minister counterpart in the Yahoos: “this leader had usually a favorite as like himself… whose employment was to lick his master’s feet and posteriors” (Swift 1352). It is obvious that the action of licking another’s ‘feet’ is one of the ways in which to be ‘obsequious and subservient’ to one’s superior.
Another parallel between the Yahoos’ behavior and corruption in European civilization is recognized as one of the greatest sins repeated in history: warfare. Gulliver informs master Houyhnhnm that wars are triggered “because… our neighbors want the things which we have, or have the things we want” (Swift 1345). In comparison to this idea, the Yahoos also fight the “fiercest and the most frequent battles… in the fields where the shining stones abound” which can be used to form a connection between greed for property and the amount of warfare for both the European and Yahoo population (Swift 1352). Based on these examples, we become aware of how Yahoos function as a distorted creation, a race of monsters that have been formed to model a collection of human evils. Paradoxically, however, what must be critically noted is how these Yahoos only represent the negative side of Man which is a result of his encounter with society and civilization. However, Man is not only marked for his follies. If Swift really did give birth to the Yahoos in order to encompass all the qualities of Man’s identity, then Swift is ignorant of the ambivalence of human nature. As a result, terming “Gulliver’s Travels: Part 4” as a misanthropic text can be a dangerous assumption since there is still uncertainty whether or not Yahoos symbolize inherent human nature without the harmful influence from its contemporary society.
Apart from these Yahoos, Gulliver is more of a relatable character and perhaps viewed more as a fair representative of mankind than the despicable, ape-like animals. And with this assumption in mind, this essay will now claim how Man, who is represented through the character of Gulliver, is highly unlike the Yahoos since they are only defined by their harmful nature whereas Man should be marked by his natural duality that encompasses both good and evil. Moreover, the definition of Yahoos is too narrow to include the complexity of all the components which construct a human being. Swift’s sketch of a Yahoo is too simplistic to fully express all the “learning, government, arts, manufactures, and the like” of human society (Swift 1352). Due to the duality of Man’s nature, which includes both his strengths and weaknesses, success and failure, as well as good and evil, a human society also reflects this ambivalence. The community of Yahoos draws only the darker side of humanity, and even the master Houyhnhnm “confesse[s] he [can] find little or no resemblance between the Yahoos of that country and those in ours” in this aspect (Swift 1352).
The Houyhnhnms believe their theory to be true in regards to Gulliver being a Yahoo due to their similar physicalities when Gulliver and the Yahoos are beside each other. However, these intelligent Houyhnhnms are short on their intelligence since they are absentminded to a critical difference between Gulliver and Yahoo, which is none other than Gulliver’s ability to learn new ideas and concepts. The Houyhnhnms are fully aware that the Yahoos are “the most unteachable of all animals” while Gulliver is obviously teachable due to a small endowment of reason, but they do not perceive how important this factor is and belittles the weight of reason possessed by Gulliver by equating him to the Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms make a skewed judgment that Gulliver is a Yahoo only based upon his physical attributes instead of also recognizing this apparent behavioral divergence and “lump[s] him with these degenerates” (Stone 373).
There is also a further assertion “[t]hat Swift never meant the Yahoos to be identified closely with humans” since, unlike Gulliver, the Yahoos “usually walk on all fours and are also amphibious” (Stone 369). Proof for this statement is manifested within the text when Gulliver observes how Yahoos “swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to continue long underwater” (Swift 1354). There is not one positive description of Yahoos in Swift’s agenda while his opinions on Gulliver and mankind can be questionable. As we shall see, the association [between Yahoo and human] is effected not by Swift, but by Gulliver himself” (Stone 369).
One of the strongest arguments that serve to prove Swift’s innocence from misanthropy is the portrayal of Don Pedro since “[i]f an ethical norm exists in Gulliver’s Travels, it is embodied in the Portuguese sea captain… but not in the Houyhnhnms” (Carnochan 23). Don Pedro rescues Gulliver and continues to preserve his life by persuading Gulliver “to bear [Don Pedro] company in this voyage without attempting anything against [his] life” (Swift 1364). The Portuguese captain is even civil enough to send Gulliver back home to his family by spending his own money out of goodwill and charity. The existence of Don Pedro’s character in “Gulliver’s Travels: Part 4” explains the reason why “the reader [should not] think that Swift shares in any way Gulliver’s misanthropic identification of man and Yahoo… [since] the Portuguese sea captain proves that not all men are Yahoos” (Carcnochan 24). If Swift was bent on pushing his misanthropic ideals into his satire, why go through the annoyance of making an exception?
Earlier in this essay, I have discussed how behavior is a significant aspect that marks the divergence between Man (Gulliver) and Yahoo. That only applies when we perceive Gulliver as a representative of mankind. Nevertheless, Gulliver solely as an individual is not initially a Yahoo, but throughout the course of his stay in Houyhnhnm land, he becomes a Yahoo by inadvertently choosing to be one. One of the Yahoos’ characteristics that marks them as savages is their intense hatred for one another. The Yahoos are incapable of peace and are only subdued under the Houyhnhnms’ control. By adopting this hatred shared among the Yahoos, Gulliver unknowingly transforms into a Yahoo out of his own free will. When reunited with his family, Gulliver “confess[es] the… hatred, disgust, and contempt, and the more by reflecting on the near alliance” he has to them (Swift 1365). Furthermore, Gulliver even goes through a process of self-loathing when he “behold[s] the reflection of [his] own” and remarks how he can “better endure the sight of a common Yahoo than of [his] own person” (Swift 1360). Therefore, Gulliver’s “mind becomes temporarily deranged… and betrays his condition by denouncing mankind in a list of vices” (Stone 373). In fact, Gulliver’s self-identification as a Yahoo is actually not caused by the Yahoos but the Houyhnhnms since Gulliver’s action to freely accept the Houyhnhnms’ definition of himself without any doubt or rejection is akin to the taming originally done by the Houyhnhnms to the Yahoos. Because of these Houyhnhnms, Gulliver essentially loses the ability to decide for himself, and as a result, he is deprived of his free will, one of the main conditions of being human instead of a Yahoo.
Even though the main cause for Gulliver regarding himself as a Yahoo is due to the brainwash induced and conducted by the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is responsible for allowing himself to be Yahooish because he is a man and therefore has the ability to judge for himself. Gulliver believes that admitting he is a Yahoo is an act of great revelation and self-reflection, but what he is unaware of is that this process is self-derogatory and thus, demoralizing. Being a Yahoo is not an instinct that cannot be altered but is executed by choice which can be prevented by the power of the individual since it is the said individuals, we who make these decisions.
Works Cited
Swift, Jonathan. “Gulliver’s Travels: Part 4.” The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Ed. Joseph Black, Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Pr, 2010. 1333–1368
Black, Joseph. “Jonathan Swift 1667–1745.” The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Pr, 2010. 1254–1255
Carnochan, W. B. “The Complexity of Swift: Gulliver’s Fourth Voyage.” Studies in Philology, vol. 60, no. 1, 1963, pp. 23–44. www.jstor.org/stable/4173404.
Stone, Edward. “Swift and the Horses: Misanthropy or Comedy.” Modern Language Quarterly 10.3 (1949): 367–376.