monkey see, monkey do
...tionality, governed by reason alone. Through the course of this chapter, Gulliver develops an idea of the Houyhnhnms which doesn’t represent actual horses, or any animal, in the slightest. The first paragraph of this section describes the marriage and courtship rituals of the Houyhnhnms. Neither “courtship” nor “love” has any “place in their thoughts” (Swift 2155). Their approach to marriage leaves the matchmaking decisions to the parents and friends of the betrothed. Gulliver also reveals that the Houyhnhnms never fight with one another. Houyhnhnms are described as spending their lives with their partner “without jealousy, fondness, quarreling, or discontent” (2155). If they have no fondness for each other it is not surprising they would never fight, since they have no reason to care how the other thinks or feels. Fighting generally occurs due to differences in feelings or opinions, neither of which the Houynhnhnms seem to have. The Houyhnhnms’ decisions are based solely upon reason, thus their reason leads them to the same conclusions and resolutions. In addition to the community decisions regarding marriage, the Houyhnhnms also implement a universally beneficial plan for feeding. The Houyhnhnms are not “suffered to taste a grain of oats” until they are eighteen years old, an unthinkable behavior for an actual horse (2155). The Houyhnhnms grazing for food is limited into adulthood, “and a great part of the grass is brought home” to...