Gulliver's Travels, Part IV By Jonathan Swift

Superior Essays
Gulliver’s Travels, Part IV is an eighteenth-century book that evoked vivid clarity, of the perceived fairy tale, to be Jonathan Swift’s metaphoric description of society. Jonathan Swift’s ironic satire belittles mankind, by personifying Yahoos as manlike beastly, ignorant monkeys. He described the Yahoos as animals “. . . the face of it indeed was flat and broad, the nose depressed, the lips large, and the mouth wide. . .” (Swift 274). Swift twisted a man vs self theme between Gulliver and the Yahoos. Gulliver appears to be in perpetual battle with being a perfect man and the Yahoo’s significant shortcomings of being a man. Upon Gulliver’s return home, he cannot bear the thought or sight of his wife, children or even his own reflection; disgusted at the resemblance of a Yahoo. Swift was exposing his dissatisfaction with all of humanity; he was an alleged misanthrope.
Jonathan Swift wraps up Gulliver’s Travels with his final expedition in Part IV. Gulliver finds his way to a land that represents humanity in both utopia and avaricious; Country of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wrestles with his overwhelming disgust of human foible vices that is portrayed in the Yahoos (Overview: Gulliver 's
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Swift poses the question is man corrupt or does life corrupt man? Culture is objectified depending on a person’s own experiences and culture. Swift introduces Gulliver to a culture that was unheard of and extreme in comparison to his own. Humanity adjusts to less extreme changes without much resistance. Gulliver had an excessive amount of time to accept the Houyhnhnms culture but struggled significantly upon return to his own. The difficulties Gulliver experiences explain that the culture and life corrupt the man. Diversity should not be ridiculed but celebrate. As seen with the Houyhnhnms, lack of diversity leaves life dull and

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