eason which God hath given him... It is the mistake of wise and good men that they expect more Reason and Virtue from human nature, than taking it in the bulk, it is in any sort capable of." When Gulliver returned to England, he measures humans by Houyhnhnm standards of reason and virtue, and becomes disappointed because he expects Yahoo brutalism. Ehrenpreis has a different interpretation of the ending. He believes that the kind of influence the Houyhnhnm's ideal virtues had on Gulliver is similar to the strict and perfect obedience to Christian ideals as would have been done in eighteenth century society. So Swift is saying, if men did practice Christianity in such a manner, they would destroy civilization as they knew it, in the same way Gulliver destroyed his family.Jonathan Swift uses a lot of satire in writing Gulliver's Travels. Some of the satire is blunt and apparent. The Yahoos, with their exact likeness to humans in form, conveyed the degenerative nature of humans without civilization. At the same time, their presence also brings about the realization that even under the guise of civilization, humans are corrupt and decadent. The use of the "ideal" Houyhnhnms is deceiving. The apparent reason for using reasonable animals is to make the human-like Yahoos seem more irrational. From literary criticisms by Knowles and Ehrenpreis, it seems like the Houyhnhnms were used as objects of satire. What was not apparent, but pointed out by both critics was the fact that inconsistencies in the Houyhnhnm character are reflective of paradoxes in human thought. The only support Ehrenpreis gave was the parallel between the hippocentricity of the Houyhnhnms and the anthropocentricity of humans. Knowles used many examples from the book to support his ideas. The most subtle criticisms were made on religion. Ehrenpreis' explanations mostly used supporting evidence from Locke. He used an argument against Trinitarianism and another o...
