HOUYHNHNMS vs. YAHOOS

The Land of the Houyhnhnms was a small section in a satirical, extended metaphor illustrated by Swift in Gulliver's travels depicting the nature of human beings and pointing out its flaws. It is through the Houyhnhnms that Swift depicts the "perfect" or most ideal society.

With further study into the time that this novel was written, it becomes very clear that the traits Swift appointed to the Houyhnhnms, was considered by the people of the eighteenth century to be how man ought to have been and was before the fall of Adam in the Garden. They ate mainly a grain and vegetarian diet, which in itslef has biblical undercurrents. In portraying the Houyhnhnms to be almost righteous, Swift was able to make the contrast between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos that much more acute. The yahoos on the other hand enjoy mainly raw meats and garbage and more importanly, they partake in eating all the foods that are prohibited in biblical codes found in the book of Leviticus.

As disgusting as the Yahoo's demeanor is, Swift tries to imply that we, humans, are yahoos. Throughout Gulliver's entire encounter with the Houyhnhnms, the only thing that keeps the horses from identifying him as a yahoo initally is his clothing. Swift used Gulliver's clothes in a very interesting way in that, he implied that the only thing that separated him from the Yahoos was his clothing; an artficial, worthless entitiy. In reality there really was nothing separating him from the Yahoos, he was a Yahoo. In Gullivers failed attempts of becoming a Houyhnhnm, Swift is saying that we as Humans could never be a Houyhnhnm, a vituous being, because the "Yahoo" in us is so overpowering.