A Change in Gulliver

In the beginning of the book, Gulliver started out as an average man who was a surgeon and lived a normal life. This was all changed when he was first shipwrecked during a storm and when he landed on the island of Lilliput. Throughout all of his journeys, he learned of the corruptions of mankind and realized that there is no reason to return back to England. He was disgusted by all of man's vicious, backstabbing, and greedy characteristics that society is tainted with. Gulliver never wanted to leave the land of the Houyhnhnms, the land of the Utopian society. When forced to leave, he knew that he would never return to the corrupted societies of England and found his own island where he could live the way he wanted where he could live in his own Utopian society alone.

Did You Know?

I was reading about Gulliver Travels when it was first published in 1726 and noticed some interesting facts. First of all, the book was originally called Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. Even though this title  gives the reader a better understanding on what the book will be about, it has been shortened to Gulliver's Travels. Also, Jonathan Swift published the 1726 edition of Gulliver's Travels as an anonymous author due to the danger of being arrested for his critical satire against the king and the Whig government.

Horses

I find it funny that horses in Houyhnhnm are like humans in human society. One of the reasons it seems funny is because horses are animals just like we are. The main reason I bring it up is because they were viewed in ancient societies as "heroes" and were usually linked to heroic exploits. The horses in Houyhnhnm have never experienced war, so they don't view each other with valor or anything god-like. I think Swift used horses as his final society to symbolize honor and truth, which are some pretty big themes of the Houyhnhnm society.

Virtues of the Houyhnhnms

I thought it was interesting that "friendship" and "benevolence" were the virtues of the Houyhnhnms. In England and the rest of Europe during Jonathan Swift's life time, those attributes were probably hard to come by. That must explain why Gulliver distances himself from his family when he gets back to England. I think that Swift includes these virtues to explain to the reader that there will always be people in the world who will be friendly and benevolent, despite everything else you experience. Think about it: you can't have darkness without light or badness without good. That's what makes the world spin.

Perfection

I thought it was pretty cool when Gulliver said that he wanted to stay with the Houyhnhnm society and not go back home. It shows just how perfect and innocent the race of horses are. Swift probably made Gulliver say this to show how perfection lures everyone and everything to it and drives them to be perfect. And since Gulliver wants to stay and "be perfect," he is exposing his flaw of striving for perfection, since the reader should know that no human is perfect. This makes it impossible for Gulliver to stay, which gives Swift a reason to make him reach his home in the end.

Styling of the book

Swift wrote the book entirely like a travel journal of the time, and maintained a serious tone and direct address to the reader throughout the story, partially to satirize travel journals and essentially make fun of them, and partially to get his message across more effectively by keeping the story serious and realistic. One thing i liked was the deep impact that the Houyhnhnm society had on Gulliver. The other races that he met did not have such a lasting impact on his style of living and morals, because the Houyhnhnm  culture was so righteous that he converted and never went back to the ways of the Yahoos. He could barely stand to touch his own wife and children when he returned home, he was so averted to humans. However, I think in his situation, I would be in the same condition, especially after having been immersed in the Houyhnhnm culture for so long.

Comparisons with Societies.

While thinking about the Houyhnhnm society, I couldn't help but compare them to Vulcans from Star Trek like Spock. They act entirely out of reason and logic, have little emotion, and are always honest and truthful. I wonder if the creators of the characters in Star Trek received inspiration from this book.