Falon Cole

SWIFTS ATTITUDE TO REASON IN BOOK IV OF GULLIVERS TRAVELS

BY
BIRGITT FLOHR
HOUYHNHNMLAND WORKSHEET
1. Swifts Anatomy of Misunderstanding: A study of Swifts Epistemological imagination Laura B.
Kennelly, in George Prior Publishers; London 1981.
The following works cited entry is the correct MLA format. Circle: TRUE or FALSE
2. Read the highlighted section of paragraph 1. Does this essay use a hook? Circle: YES or NO
3. How many signal phrases are included in paragraph 9?
a. 2
b. 4
c. 1
d. 8
4. Read paragraph 8. How does the author interpret Swifts ideas of human rationale?
a. Humans are incapable of reason.
b. Horses are superior to humans because they are able to take away emotion, desire, and greed from
their reasonings.
c. Man is not inherently rational but instead able to be reasonable on certain occasions.
d. No one is capable of using reason, human or horse, and instead all pretenses of rationale are faades.
5. The tone of this essay is humorous. Circle: TRUE or FALSE
6. Does paragraph 4 use an effective transition? Circle: YES or NO
7. Look at the highlighted portion of paragraph 10. In what order should the numbered sections be
placed in for increased sentence fluency?
a. 1,4,2,3
b. 3,1,2,4
c. 1,2,4,3
d. NO CHANGE
8. What are the brute beasts Gulliver identifies as human-like?
a. Yahoos
b. Brobdignagians
c. Houyhnhnms
d. Lilliputians
9. Overindulgence seems to be a very common thing for humans. What does that impact?
a. Reason
b. Illness
c. Desire
d. Hungriness
10. Would the Houyhnhnms like The Knight from The Canterbury Tales?
a. YES, because he is wise.
b. NO, because he resembles the Yahoos.
c. YES, because he fights, but only for good causes.
d. NO, he participates in endless wars and cannot separate his good intentions for the common good.

Falon Cole

11. What is ironic about the fact that the Houyhnhnms kicked Gulliver out for his physical likeness to
the Yahoos?
a. There is no irony.
b. Gulliver is a reminder to them to continue to be reasonable, thus their decision to kick Gulliver out is
not unreasonable.
c. The Houyhnhnms are supposed to be reasonable and only use the facts with no emotion involved but
cant get past the fact that Gulliver looks like a creature that is (to them) wholly unreasonable.
d. What? They didnt kick out Gulliver!
12. Read paragraph 11. If overindulgence, desire, and greed are the downfall of human reasonability,
what is the downfall of the Houyhnhnms?
a. Loss of reason.
b. Arrogance and hubris.
c. Nothing, the Houyhnhnms are entirely reasonable and have no faults.
d. Letting Yahoos and humans into their society.