Teach Us Then

When Gulliver finally returns from his travels, I am appalled at what he says when he sees his family again.

"I must freely confess the sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust, and contempt; and the more, by reflecting on the near alliance I had to them. For although, since my unfortunate exile from the Houyhnhnm country, I had compelled myself to tolerate the sight of Yahoos, and to converse with Don Pedro de Mendez, yet my memory and imagination were perpetually filled with the virtues and ideas of those exalted Houyhnhnms. And when I began to consider that, by copulating with one of the Yahoo species I had become a parent of more, it struck me with the utmost shame, confusion, and horror." I get that he grew to hate the Yahoos in his travels, but this is his family. His kids. I don't recall whether his marriage was for love or whether it was arranged, but either way, these are people whom he should love.

I am really pissed off by Gulliver's attitude after he leaves the land of the Houyhnhnms. They may be virtuous and all that good cuddly stuff but he can't hate humanity the way he does. It's ridiculous. If he's so much better than us, why doesn't he do something about it? Why doesn't he try and fix the vices and cruel nature of humans? He claims to, "write for the noblest end, to inform and instruct mankind," but what he really is doing is hiding and running away from the problem.

Although the travel stories are cool, his attitude at the end really ruined the entire experience. It makes me think that Swift has this opinion of man and I don't like it.