Compare and contrast 'the Yahoos' and 'the Houyhnhnms' highlighting their features,lifestyles,social practices as described in Part IV of Gullivers Travels .
Yahoos and Houyhnhnms:
The Yahoos were human-like creatures but markedly disfigured and deformed such that their link with humanity was lost and they seemed to be more akin to animals. Their heads and breasts were covered with thick hair while the rest of their bodies were bare. They did not have tails, often stood on their hind legs and Gulliver had found them immensely detestable on his first encounter with them. Although the Yahoos were human in form and feature, they were indeed more like animals because they were filthy, they were voracious omnivores, a noisy nuisance on top of being restive, mischievous and malicious. They were an especially depraved variety of mankind who seemed to be degenerating further. The Houyhnhnms treated the Yahoos in the same manner that human beings treat horses, as a means of conveyance. The Yahoos were tied by the neck with strong withes fastened to a beam and held their food between the claws of their fore feet and tore it with their teeth. Their food being a wisp of hay and a fetlock full of oats. The Yahoos would be tethered to a sledge like vehicle which were meant to carry around the Houyhnhnms from one place to another. Gulliver could not bring himself to empathise with the Yahoos, although they seemed human yet woefully underdeveloped in their intellectual abilities. He tried to establish himself as one among the race of Houyhnhnms because of his higher intellectual capabilities but he was eventually considered to be a better version of the Yahoos and sent off from the kingdom as he posed a threat to the peace and order of Houyhnhnms kingdom. Gulliver's intense grief upon being forced to leave the Houyhnhnms shows that it was their kind of society, fair, just and principled which he aspired to belong to. It was a society which was governed by an ethical code of conduct. The happiness and harmony engendered in their social code of living was something Gulliver sought for the actual society of the English he lived in but could not find. An utter detestation of all falsehood or disguise and an affinity towards truth at all times led Gulliver to enter into a firm resolution inspired by the Houyhnhnms. He had contracted a love and veneration for the inhabitants leading him to resolve upon spending the rest of his life among the admirable Houyhnhnms. The contemplation and practice of every virtue and an aversion to vice were the best qualities that impressed Gulliver. The Houyhnhnms, horse-like in form and shape but human-like in temperament, were orderly, rational, judicious, devoted to reason and clarity of expression, as well as governed by the principles of justice. They lived by a grand maxim, cultivate reason and be governed by it. They had no conception of a lie and therefore, no word to express it, the word 'yahoo' symbolized evil for them. The Houyhnhnms were uncorrupted by passion, they were not subject to temptation, and in Gulliver's notion, emblematic of perfection in humanity.
The Yahoos were human-like creatures but markedly disfigured and deformed such that their link with humanity was lost and they seemed to be more akin to animals. Their heads and breasts were covered with thick hair while the rest of their bodies were bare. They did not have tails, often stood on their hind legs and Gulliver had found them immensely detestable on his first encounter with them. Although the Yahoos were human in form and feature, they were indeed more like animals because they were filthy, they were voracious omnivores, a noisy nuisance on top of being restive, mischievous and malicious. They were an especially depraved variety of mankind who seemed to be degenerating further. The Houyhnhnms treated the Yahoos in the same manner that human beings treat horses, as a means of conveyance. The Yahoos were tied by the neck with strong withes fastened to a beam and held their food between the claws of their fore feet and tore it with their teeth. Their food being a wisp of hay and a fetlock full of oats. The Yahoos would be tethered to a sledge like vehicle which were meant to carry around the Houyhnhnms from one place to another. Gulliver could not bring himself to empathise with the Yahoos, although they seemed human yet woefully underdeveloped in their intellectual abilities. He tried to establish himself as one among the race of Houyhnhnms because of his higher intellectual capabilities but he was eventually considered to be a better version of the Yahoos and sent off from the kingdom as he posed a threat to the peace and order of Houyhnhnms kingdom. Gulliver's intense grief upon being forced to leave the Houyhnhnms shows that it was their kind of society, fair, just and principled which he aspired to belong to. It was a society which was governed by an ethical code of conduct. The happiness and harmony engendered in their social code of living was something Gulliver sought for the actual society of the English he lived in but could not find. An utter detestation of all falsehood or disguise and an affinity towards truth at all times led Gulliver to enter into a firm resolution inspired by the Houyhnhnms. He had contracted a love and veneration for the inhabitants leading him to resolve upon spending the rest of his life among the admirable Houyhnhnms. The contemplation and practice of every virtue and an aversion to vice were the best qualities that impressed Gulliver. The Houyhnhnms, horse-like in form and shape but human-like in temperament, were orderly, rational, judicious, devoted to reason and clarity of expression, as well as governed by the principles of justice. They lived by a grand maxim, cultivate reason and be governed by it. They had no conception of a lie and therefore, no word to express it, the word 'yahoo' symbolized evil for them. The Houyhnhnms were uncorrupted by passion, they were not subject to temptation, and in Gulliver's notion, emblematic of perfection in humanity.