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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.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 7

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 7

The narrator’s great love of his native country is expressed. His master’s observations upon the constitution and administration of England, as described by the narrator, with parallel cases and comparisons. His master’s observations upon human nature are chronicled.

Impressed by the virtues of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver decided to tell, freely and truthfully, as much as he could, about human beings. Gulliver had started to hate the Yahoos and had come to venerate the Houyhnhnms. He hoped to be able to stay among them for the rest of his life. Convinced by ‘a person of so acute a judgment’ as his master, who daily convinced Gulliver of a thousand faults in him that he had not perceived earlier, Gulliver sees in himself flaws that he had never considered infirmities. His master told him that he had considered all of Gulliver’s claims about his home country and had come to the conclusion that Gulliver’s people were not as different from the Yahoos as they might at first have seemed.

Gulliver’s Master reached the conclusion that the European Yahoos had only enough intelligence to make their natural corruption worse and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given them. By clipping their nails, cutting their hair, and generally growing soft, they had also deprived themselves of the natural protection the Yahoos of the Houyhnhnm Land had. Even though there were outward differences between Gulliver and the Yahoos in the land of the Houyhnhnms, their essential natures were the same: they hated each other more than other animals did and fought without a cause. The Yahoos of the land of the Houyhnhnms also loved shiny rocks, which none of the Houyhnhnms understood, but which seemed to be a trait common to the whole human species.

Yahoos were the only animals in Houyhnhnm land who fell sick. Gulliver’s Master did admit that European Yahoos had a lot more art than their local Yahoos. Still, their natures seemed essentially identical: for example, Yahoos of the land of the Houyhnhnm also liked to choose a leader, usually the weakest and the ugliest of the group. He also noted that Yahoos were unique in having both males and females fighting equally violently with one another. Gulliver’s Master continued that Yahoos loved filth more than most animals. Also, Yahoos sometimes fell into bad moods or thought they were sick for no reason; the only cure for this hypochondria was hard work.

He described all the flaws of the Yahoos, principally detailing their greed and selfishness. He admitted that Gulliver’s humans had different systems of learning, law, government and art but said that their natures were not different from those of the Yahoos.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 6

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 6

A continuation of the state of England under Queen Anne is given. The character of a first minister of state in European courts is described.

The discussion then turned to money and gold. The Houyhnhnm was unable to understand why human beings lied or injured fellow beings. Gulliver tried to explain the concept of greed and exploitation to his Master. He told him that when a human being had got a great store of money, he was able to purchase whatever he had a mind to; the finest clothing, the most luxurious houses, great tracts of land, and the best food. For this, the rich man enjoyed the fruit of the poor man’s labour, and the latter were a thousand to one in proportion to the former; that the bulk of people were forced to live miserably, by labouring every day for small wages, to make a few live plentifully.

He talked of the absurdities of importing and exporting, sending away necessities such as agricultural products and bringing in luxuries. He claimed that England grew enough food to support its population comfortably, but because they wanted luxury, they had to export what they grew in exchange for things that they didn’t need. A female Yahoo couldn’t get her breakfast without someone having circled the world three times for the tea she drank and the china cup she drank it from. This luxury of rich food led the English to diseases, the likes of which the Houyhnhnms had never seen. Another group of people had arisen to treat these diseases—to profit off them—using fake potions to make people cleanse their insides. This group of people, the doctors, made so much profit on disease that they encouraged people to think that they were sick even when they weren’t.

While discussing political thought, Gulliver accidentally mentioned a minister of state. At that Gulliver’s master wanted to know what a ‘Minister of State’ was. Gulliver told him that the First Minister of State was someone totally without any emotion besides ambition for money, power and titles. The chief qualifications for the First Minister of State were: to know how to get rid of an inconvenient relative; to undermine his predecessor; to shout endlessly against corruption at court.

Gulliver felt a wise prince was one who had corrupt ministers because they were given to flattery and bowed to the will and desire of their master. These ministers kept themselves in power, by bribing the majority of a senate or great council. They made laws to save themselves from being called to account on retiring. And they retired from office rich with the loot they had plundered from the nation. Chief Ministers of State bribed and intimidated others to follow their orders.

Gulliver’s tirade continued. He told his master that the nobility in his country were educated to be lazy and ignorant and that there was frequent mixing of classes that damaged noble blood lines. Despite their total uselessness, they still had authority over all lower-born people in the country.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 5

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 5

The narrator, at his master’s command, informs him of the state of England and the causes of war among the princes of Europe. The narrator begins to explain the English constitution.

Over the course of two years, Gulliver described the state of affairs in Europe. Gulliver spoke to his Houyhnhnm master about the English Revolution and the war with France, in which, probably, about a million Yahoos were killed, approximately a hundred or more cities taken, and five times as many ships burnt or sunk.

Gulliver was asked to explain the causes of war, and he did his best to provide reasons for war. He spoke about the ambition of princes who wanted more land or people to rule over. Sometimes, corrupt ministers led the country into a war, in order to draw attention away from their evil administration. Gulliver talked at length about the bloody wars fought for ‘religious reasons’. Likewise, he spoke about the wars fought over reasons as trivial as what is the best colour or length for a coat. He told the Houyhnhnm about colonization and wars over colonies.

Sometimes, a prince declared war for fear of an attack. Wars were fought to dominate a weak neighbour; to subdue a strong one; to plunder a country that had been all but ruined by famine or a natural disaster; to take over a country in order to have its natural riches. The trade of a soldier, maintained Gulliver, was held to be highly prestigious. He talked of mercenary soldiers who fought for money. At times people murdered each other, out of jealousy, for a government post. An invading prince, Gulliver said, would conquer a country, kill half the population, and enslave the rest, all in the holy name of civilization.

Gulliver’s master then told Gulliver that, with all of this warlike nature, it was lucky that humans couldn’t do too much damage to each other because their mouths weren’t designed for easy biting. Gulliver explained the weapons of war and the damage that humans could do to each other. He started describing the horrors of the battlefield when his Master commanded him to silence. He commented that, although his Yahoos were abominable, English Yahoos were far worse because they used their intelligence to magnify, yet excuse, their vices.

The Houyhnhnm then asked Gulliver about England’s legal system. He wondered how laws could be bad or ruin men, when they were designed to save them. Gulliver then explained the legal system in some detail, criticizing lawyers severely in the process. He explained how some lawyers were trained from babyhood to defend the wrong side. So, they had no sense of justice. What was more, judges often preferred to agree with what appeared obviously untrue. So, people with right on their side might only win if they pretended that right was wrong.

Gulliver talked about precedent: anything that had been done before may legally be done again. Lawyers liked to split hairs and talked about irrelevant details to distract from the simple facts of all their cases. They had their own private way of speaking, which excluded ordinary people from either understanding of making laws. People in power could decide to convict others accused of crimes against the state because they had influence over the judges. Gulliver’s master commented that it was a shame that they spent so much time training lawyers to be lawyers and not teaching them to be knowledgeable and wise.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 4

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 4

The Houyhnhnm’s notion of truth and falsehood. The narrator’s discourse disapproved by his master. The narrator gives a more particular account of himself, and the accidents of his voyage.

Gulliver and his master continued their discussion of concepts that were difficult for his master to comprehend—especially those related to lying and doing evil. Gulliver said he had occasion to talk of ‘lying’ and ‘false representation,’ both of which his master had great difficulty understanding. There were no words for ‘lying’ and ‘doubt’ in the Houyhnhnm language. The Houyhnhnm said that lying defeated the very purpose of language, which was to make the speakers understand one another. Gulliver tried to explain that the Yahoos were the governing creatures where he came from, and the Houyhnhnms asked how their horses were employed.

He told his master about the poor treatment horses often received, as work animals, in his home country. Gulliver explained that they were used for travelling, racing, and drawing chariots. Gulliver’s master was utterly disgusted to hear that Yahoos rode Houyhnhnms where Gulliver came from. The Houyhnhnms expressed disbelief that anything as weak as a Yahoo would dare to mount a horse that was so much stronger than it. Though Gulliver’s master continued to be outraged, he admitted that, if horses in Gulliver’s country were stupid, then it made sense that the Yahoos won out, because reason beat strength every time.

Gulliver’s master inquired if the Yahoos in Gulliver’s country were more like Gulliver or like the Yahoos of the Houyhnhnm Land. When Gulliver answered that they were more like him, Gulliver’s master actually thought that it was something of a disadvantage. Sure, they were better-looking than the Yahoos of Houyhnhnm, but they were physically weaker and less suited to survival. It took Gulliver a long time to explain to his Master about his own origins, because there were no words in Houyhnhnm language for things like deception, power, wealth, lust, or envy.

Gulliver explained that the horses were trained from a young age to be tame and obedient. He described the state of humanity in Europe and was asked to speak more specifically of his own country.