The Houyhnhnms: a race of individuals who live by reasonOf all the fictional peoples that Gulliver meets during his travels, author Jonathan Swift created a race of individuals who were consumed by living completely by reason and rationality. Gulliver considers this particular race to be probably the most favored of all the people he encounters. “In his love of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver accepts an idea of ​​perfection that makes it impossible for him to understand or participate in human life” (Nichols, 1154). According to Gulliver, the Houyhnhnms have no interest in causing trouble, but in fact he refers to these individuals as different from humans because they are "mixed, obscured, or discolored by passion and interest" (Swift , IV, 8). It is this admired quality that makes Gulliver want to make this fascinating land his home. This article will discuss the characteristics of Swift's Houyhnhnms, the good and bad aspects of their life of reason, and the different characteristics of the Yahoos, in comparison. POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOUYHNHNMS “The great maxim of the Houyhnhnms is to cultivate reason and be entirely governed by it” (Swift, IV, 8 cited by Nichols, 1154). This community of reason, according to Gulliver, emanates from the most adapted people (MacKeracher, 5) that Gulliver has ever encountered during his travels. They were naturally endowed with characteristics of friendship, kindness, decency and courtesy. Gulliver considered these peoples to be peoples completely devoid of evil. Although their physical characteristics were "horse-like", their virtues were more of a positive nature, which Gulliver considered much more important. Swift characterized these "peoples" as a distinct race, d...... middle of paper ...uh, Yahoos are not very flexible and do not have multiple characteristics. “They are uniformly repugnant throughout the tale” (Sullivan, 504). It seems that creating the Yahoos is something Swift does to show her attack on humanity. He uses the art of satire to show how disgusting and despicable humanity can be, through the Yahoos. CONCLUSION The people (horses) of the Houyhnhnms were created by Swift to show how man should live by reason and not be overcome by his own passions. He uses the Yahoos to show the opposite of a society governed without reason, but with only its own ugly desires. Houyhnhnms have their good and bad sides, but Yahoos are rotten through and through. The clash of the two types of people seems to largely reflect the world of Swift's time; the good….the rational, and the bad….the irrational.