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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 12

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 12

The narrator explains his aim in publishing this book. He criticizes travellers who swerve from the truth. The narrator clears himself from any sinister aims in writing. The method of planting colonies is described. His native country is commended. The right of the crown to the countries described by the narrator is justified. The narrator takes his last leave of the reader, proposes his manner of living for the future, gives good advice, and concludes.

Gulliver claimed that absolutely everything he had written was absolutely true. In fact, he thought it was a disgrace that so many travellers embroidered or exaggerated their published accounts of their trips around the world. Gulliver’s motto was: ‘Though Fortune has made Sinon wretched, she has not made him untrue and a liar.’ In other words, though Gulliver was dejected about having left the land of the Houyhnhnms, he still refused to lie about any of his experiences. The purpose of writing his memoirs was not to gain fame, but to share the superior example of the Houyhnhnms with the world.

Gulliver was told that it was his duty, as a subject of England, to give an account of his voyages to the Secretary of State of England, upon his return. This would enable England to conquer the lands. But Gulliver feared that the conquest of the countries he had visited would not be easy or profitable. The Lilliputians were too small to be worth it, the Brobdingnagians, too large and dangerous, and the Laputians, literally out of reach. While the Houyhnhnms were totally inexperienced with war, the English shouldn’t invade them.

The Houyhnhnms were smart, strong, and loved their country. So they would figure out how to defend it quickly enough. In fact, Gulliver wished that the Houyhnhnms would come over and teach all of their virtues to the European Yahoos. A further reason why Gulliver didn’t want the Europeans to conquer the lands he had seen was that they didn’t seem to want to be conquered. Taking their lands against their will would be cruel.

At the end of his tale, Gulliver was sitting in his garden thinking; he was instructing his family as best he could. He was applying the lessons of the Houyhnhnms to instruct the Yahoos of his own family. He even forced himself to look in a mirror every day to get used to his human face and those of the people around him. He mourned the treatment of the Houyhnhnms in England. After five years at home, Gulliver was able to let his wife sit at dinner with him—at the far end of the table, though he still kept his nostrils stuffed with lavender or tobacco so as to not be bothered by the smell.

What he really hated was, not the bad qualities that Yahoos couldn’t seem to escape, but the pride they felt in themselves even though they were so disgusting, diseased, and detestable. The Houyhnhnms, who possessed good natures, were not proud, because they were born as good fellows and could not help but be good. They didn’t need to congratulate themselves. The only way that Gulliver would ever be able to sit in the company of an English Yahoo again was if they avoided at least this one sin: the sin of pride.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 11

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 11

The narrator’s dangerous voyage is described. He arrives at New Holland, hoping to settle there, but is wounded with an arrow by one of the natives. He is seized and carried by force into a Portuguese ship. The narrator arrives in England.

It was 15 February 1714. Gulliver’s Master and his family watched Gulliver from the shore until he floated out of sight. The sorrel nag called out to Gulliver to take care of himself. Gulliver hoped to find the island uninhabited, but still with enough resources to support him as he really didn’t want to return to the Yahoos. On the fourth day, he saw people—naked and sitting around a fire. He jumped into his canoe and rowed away. He was struck by a poisoned arrow in his knee, which left a scar.

Gulliver tried to escape the natives’ darts by paddling out to sea. Having nowhere else to go, he returned to another part of that same island. He saw a sail in the distance and thought of going toward it, but then decided he would rather live with the barbarians than the European Yahoos, so he hid from the ship. Coincidentally, the Portuguese ship sent a long boat to the island for water.

The seamen discovered him after landing near his hiding place. They questioned him, and Gulliver trembled in fear but spoke to the sailors in their own language. He told them that he was a ‘poor Yahoo banished from the Houyhnhnms’. The sailors realized he was a European but did not understand what he meant by the terms Yahoos and Houyhnhnms. He spoke with neighing intonations which made the sailors laugh. They could not understand his desire to escape from their ship. He was horrified to be a prisoner of the Yahoos.

Gulliver told the sailors that he was from England. Since the English and the Portuguese were not at war, he hoped they would not be mean to him. The sailors brought Gulliver aboard their ship, which was heading for Lisbon in Portugal. Gulliver met the captain, Don Pedro de Mendez, who wanted to know where Gulliver was from. He was so distressed to be back among the Yahoos that he would not tell the captain—in fact, he tried to throw himself into the sea to swim away, but he was caught before he could. Don Pedro thought Gulliver was lying at first, as he started talking about Houyhnhnm land. Gulliver was confused as it had been many years since he had heard a lie. Don Pedro made Gulliver promise that he would not try to kill himself on the way home. Gulliver promised, and he also tried not to talk endlessly about how much he hated people now.

Yet, the captain of the ship, Pedro de Mendez, was kind. He treated Gulliver hospitably, offering him food, drink, and clothes. They arrived at Lisbon where Pedro de Mendez did all that he could to make Gulliver comfortable. He insisted that Gulliver stay at his own house and borrow some clothes. After ten days in Portugal, Don Pedro told Gulliver that it was his responsibility to go back home to his family. It would be impossible for Gulliver to find a solitary island to maroon himself on, but in his own home, he could be as much of a hermit as he wants to be. Gulliver grudgingly agreed, and headed back to his home.

Gulliver was happily received by his family, for they had given him up for dead. But the reunion was a disaster for Gulliver. He was filled with disgust and contempt for them. He could not bear the sight or smell of his Yahoo-like wife and children. It was only after some time that he could bear to eat with them.

In fact, it had been five years since he got back to England, and he could still barely stand to be in their presence. To restore his mind, he bought two horses and conversed with them for four hours each day.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 10

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 10

The narrator’s economy and happy life, among the Houyhnhnms, his great improvement in virtue by conversing with them and their conversations are described. The narrator is given notice by his master that he must depart from the country. He falls into a swoon from grief; but submits. He contrives and finishes a canoe with the help of a fellow-servant, and puts it to sea.

Gulliver was absolutely content living in the Land of the Houyhnhnms. A room had been made for Gulliver, and he had furnished it well. He also made new clothes for himself and settled into life with the Houyhnhnms quite easily. Gulliver had several friends among the Houyhnhnms. At times, his master allowed him to remain when his friends came. At others, he was taken along when his master went visiting. He began to think of his friends and family back home as Yahoos.

Gulliver’s admiration of the Houyhnhnms led him to imitate their gait and gesture, which had now grown into a habit. In fact, he was proud that the Houyhnhnms sometimes said that he trotted like a horse.

However, one morning, he was called by his master and told that others had taken offense at his being kept in the house as a Houyhnhnm. They had voted that Gulliver must go away. They were worried that such a smart Yahoo might encourage the other Yahoos to rise in rebellion and kill the Houyhnhnm’s cattle. Gulliver’s master had no choice but to ask Gulliver to leave. Gulliver was heartbroken to hear that he was to be banished, so much so, that he actual fainted.

However, he accepted his fate and built a canoe with the help of the sorrel nag. Gulliver explored the coast with his telescope and found a small island, about three and a half miles away, which he could reach in his boat. Finally, when the day came for Gulliver to leave, Gulliver’s master and his whole family came to see him off. Gulliver cried and kissed the hoof of his master and departed from the island.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 9

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 9

A grand debate, held at the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms and its resolution are chronicled. The learning of the Houyhnhnms, their buildings, their manner of burials, the defectiveness of their language is described.

The Houyhnhnms held one of their four-year grand assemblies about three months before Gulliver left the land of the Houyhnhnms. His master attended the Grand Assembly, where the horses went back to an old debate: whether or not to extinguish the Yahoos from the face of the earth. It was argued that they were the filthiest, noisiest and the most deformed animals which nature ever produced and they had to be watched constantly to keep them from mischief.

Also, Yahoos were not native to the land. A man and a woman had arrived one day, washed up on the shores of the island. Their numbers had increased to such an extent that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, had hunted them down and killed the elders and tamed their children. Their evil nature had made all other animals hate them. They had not been exterminated because they were made to work for the Houyhnhnms. It was suggested that Yahoos be replaced by asses as work force.

Gulliver’s master spoke up and agreed with the speaker that the two original Yahoos came from over the-sea, because he had found one (Gulliver) who was a much better specimen of the Yahoo kind. Gulliver’s Master told his fellow horses that, in Gulliver’s land, Houyhnhnms were the servants and Yahoos were the rational animals.

He also informed them about the human practice of castrating horses to make them less aggressive. He suggested that the Houyhnhnms tried that method on young Yahoos of their own country. This way, the Houyhnhnms could make the Yahoos more docile, which meant they wouldn’t need to kill them all. In time, this would put an end to the whole species, without destroying life and, in the meantime, Houyhnhnms must breed asses, which, as they are in all respects more useful animals.

This was what Gulliver’s master told him of what passed in the Grand Assembly. He hid one fact which related personally to Gulliver and which resulted in misfortune in his life.

Gulliver then described further aspects of the Houyhnhnms’ society. The Houyhnhnms didn’t write anything down; they relied on oral records for their history. They also didn’t have much in the way of astronomy, except measures of months and years. They created excellent poetry about friendship and in praise of their athletes.

They had a sound knowledge of medicinal herbs, built simple houses and, usually, lived about seventy or seventy-five years, dying of old age, unless they had some kind of accident. They felt no sorrow about death, accepting it as a routine element of life. They had no writing system and no word to express anything evil. All of their words for something bad were connected to the Yahoos. So, a poorly built house was ‘ynholmhmrohlnw Yahoo’ and a stone that cut their feet, ‘ynlhmndwihlma Yahoo’.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 8

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 8

The narrator relates several particulars of the Yahoos, the great virtues of the Houyhnhnms, the education and exercise of their youth and their general assembly.

Gulliver wanted to observe the similarities between Yahoos and humans for himself, so he asked his master for permission to observe the Yahoos, which the master gave as long as Gulliver was always accompanied by a Houyhnhnm guard—the sorrel nag. The Yahoo children were agile, but they smelt bad. The Yahoos were strong but cowardly, stubborn, lying and deceitful.

By now, Gulliver had spent three years in the land of the Houyhnhnms and was ready to tell the readers a bit more about them. The Houyhnhnms did not understand the word ‘opinion’ truly, because they were totally devoted to reason and one could only have an opinion about something one did not know absolutely. It didn’t make sense to argue over something one couldn’t know.

The Houyhnhnms believed that one should respect other people’s ideas without trying to dominate with one’s own. They were equally good to their neighbours and strangers as they valued friendship above all else. They controlled the birth of foals to keep the land from becoming overpopulated. The Houyhnhnms did not believe in mixing races. So a Houyhnhnm would only marry another Houyhnhnm of the same colour.

The Houyhnhnms applied their rules of reason even to marriage, which was always arranged for a couple by their parents. Houyhnhnm couples were always faithful to each other. The Houyhnhnms believe in equality of education for the sexes, since it was not rational to leave half the species knowing nothing. Children were strictly disciplined, with a restricted grass diet and lots and lots of exercise. The Houyhnhnms had assemblies, representing the whole nation, every four years, where they checked in to make sure everyone had all the supplies they needed.