Analysis 4- Fill in the Blank
Gulliver's Travels describes the Houyhnhms both as "brute beasts" and as "animals". While the former evidence supports the notion that the narrator believes the Houyhnhms to be just weird horses that talk in their own horse language, the quote "the behaviour of these animals was so orderly and rational, so acute and judicious" casts a new light. Together, these latter pieces of evidence imply that rather than just being talking horses, these Houyhnhms are much more advanced creatures, and that they could possibly even be intelligent, rationally-thinking beings with the capability to reason. This means that what the narrator previously knew about the role of horses and humans was wrong and encourages readers to consider the possibility that some animals' intelligence could surpass our own and we just don't know it because we have no way to communicate with them.