Summary:
Examines the theme of man's dual nature in "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms", a section in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." Describes how the author separates it into two different characters. These two characters represent man's reasoning god form and man's appetitive beast form.
Man's true nature is composed of different components, some of which are more prevalent. In Swift's "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms," man's true nature is exposed to the reader as the author separates it into two different characters. These two characters represent man's reasoning god form and man's appetitive beast form.
Houyhnhnms, the horse-like creatures in Book IV, represent the god form of humans, or more accurately, the perfect human. The Houyhnhnms are perfect. Their society, based on Plato's Republic, is perfect. The word Houyhnhnm itself means "the perfection of nature"(203). This perfection allows the Houyhnhnms "to have no word in their language to express anything that is evil"(240). This is because everything in the Houyhnhnm society is conducted to contribute to the overall success and well-being for everyone. Thus, there is no room.....
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