Alec Cenci

AP English Literature
30 October 2013

Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift is considered by most to be one of the greatest

satires of all time because of the indirect methods he uses to tell a broader message about
human society. Swift message states that by nature, humans can be rational, good beings or
impulsive and cruel ones. He shows this discovery through Gulliver, who learns along with the
reader the major flaws in human nature. Through Gulliver's journeys to different nations with
various types of inhabitants, he sees the spectrum of good and evil that humans are capable of
and in the end is disgusted by what cruel and proud beasts humans are.

The first three sections of the novel serve as a precursor to the final section. In the
earlier sections Gulliver travels to many different lands and see the various positive traits and
downfalls of many different types of people and governments, while in the final one he
observes the Houyhnhnms, Swift's ideal society. Through Gulliver's previous observations he
knows just how cruel people can be, although he does not fully realize until he describes them
to Houyhnhnms. While the majority of Swift's message is found in the final section of the
novel, it would not be complete without the first three, which show societies that each in there
own way act as a foil to Houyhnhnm Land. Gulliver wishes to leave humanity forever because
Houyhnhnms do not have the capacity or desire for evil that has followed Gulliver on all of his
journeys and waits for him back in England. The other societies teach both Gulliver and the
reader what is wrong with society in order for the final voyage to
Houyhnhnm Land to highlight what the ideal society would be like.

At the conclusion of his journey, Gulliver is both disappointed in returning back to the
cruel human world and disgusted to live among them. Gulliver's primary reason for writing
this account of his journeys was in order to display Houyhnhnm civilization for what he calls
the public good. He implies in the last chapter that he included all journeys prior to
Houyhnhnm Land simply to add verisimilitude to the reports of his travel, the only prior
civilization with some merit being the Brobdingnagians. His only desire is that no reader looks
at his writings as untruthful as he wants Europeans to take the example of the Houyhnhnms.
As with the rest of society, Gulliver becomes disgusted with himself for being of a race of
beings inferior to Houyhnhnms, and is disappointed that he and all Europeans will likely not
live up to their example. His greatest shame is that humans are proud of what they are, while
the greatly superior Houyhnhnms are no more proud of the good qualities they possess, than
I should be for not wanting a leg or an arm.

Gulliver's journeys, especially Houyhnhnm Land, are all utilized by Swift to show both
what is wrong with English, European, and all human society and how it could be perfected.
While his method is indirect, he clearly displays his views on aspects such as government, law,
science, medicine, etc., through the ineffective systems in the earlier lands as compared to the
perfect ones enjoyed by the Houyhnhnm. Gulliver's journey may leave him miserable, but it
taught him and his reader precisely what the world is doing wrong, and depressed them both
as they can do little to change it.