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Gullivers Supposed English Superiority Essay

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Gullivers Supposed English Superiority Gulliver’s typical Anglocentric Enlightenment views are best exemplified in Chapter 1 of Part IV of Gulliver’s Travels. The long paragraph, in which he describes his encounter with the Yahoos as well as the circumstances leading up to it, illustrates the climax of his Anglocentric views, after which his English pride begins to gradually degenerate and his desire to emulate the Houyhnyms arises. His English pride in this paragraph is demonstrated by his resolution to trade his life with the local “Savages” using “Toys” as his only means, his judgment of the Yahoo’s lack of comprehensive language ability, and his ever-present disgust for bodily functions. As the passage opens, …show more content…

Due to his sense of Enlightenment superiority, Gulliver does not even entertain the possibility that his life actually is as insignificant as the "Toys" which he plans on trading for it. Ironically, as his pride degenerates into a hatred for his own race, Gulliver indeed starts to believe in the insignificance of human life. After Gulliver considers his options, he inspects the island and observes a species of animals whom he likens at different points in the paragraph to goats, squirrels, monsters, cattle and beasts. It is no wonder then, that later when Gulliver reveals that these creatures are human beings, that his reader is surprised. He describes their shapes as “Singular and deformed….their Skins were of a brown Buff colour.” Perhaps one reason Gulliver does not initially see any resemblance between himself and the Yahoos is because they are not white; perhaps his Anglocentric ideal does not permit any color but white to be acknowledged as his equal. What seems certain, however, is the fact that Gulliver feels an immediate antipathy to the Yahoos because they show no indication of having a rational language. In watching them, he does not see them speak to each other and this alienates him because as we see in each voyage, it is imperative to Gulliver that he learn the language of the peoples he encounters, from the Lilliputians to the Brobdingnagians. As with all his journeys, he wants to find inhabitants that he may

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