A Passion for Reason

From the very beginning, Guilliver is disgusted by the yahoos. He tries to conceal his resemblance to them and is offended when their similarities are pointed out. He sees them as animals of pure passion, no reason. He seeks to liken himself to the houyhnhnms, seeing that they are extremely reasonable creatures. Despite his efforts to conceal and deny his connection to the yahoos, Guilliver is attacked by a female yahoo while bathing in a creek. No longer can he deny their resemblance. He is unnerved by this incident. Is it the attack or the cause of the attack that is so disturbing to Guilliver? The passion displayed by the female yahoo is unlike anything Guilliver has ever known before. There is no reason behind it. He did nothing wrong; it was only natural. He struggles to understand. The problem is that he cannot understand. Both reason and passion are vital to humankind. One cannot properly function without the other. Guilliver spent so much time running away from passion only to discover it was passion that fed his need to reason.