Study Questions

1. To whom does the farmer sell Gulliver?

2. What does the King of Brobdingnag discuss with Gulliver?

3. What do the Brobdingnagian philosophers think Gulliver is?

4. What does the King of Brobdingnag think of England?

5. How does Gulliver react to the King’s comments on England?

6. Who is Gulliver’s enemy at the court of Brobdingnag?

7. How large is the palace of Brobdingnag, according to Gulliver?

8. How is Gulliver transported around the kingdom?

9. What is the most hateful sight in Brobdingnag, according to Gulliver?

10. What insects bother Gulliver in Brobdingnag?

Answers

1. The farmer sells Gulliver to the Queen of Brobdingnag.

2. The King of Brobdingnag discusses the customs and institutions of England with Gulliver.

3. The Brobdingnagian philosophers think Gulliver is a sport of nature.

4. The King of Brobdingnag thinks that the small size of the English shows how contemptible human pretensions are, since they have titles of honor political parties, and the like.

5. Gulliver reacts at first with resentment at the King’s attitude toward England, but then realizes that he himself would seem ridiculous to someone so many times larger than he was.

6. Gulliver’s enemy at the court of Brobdingnag is the Dwarf, who resents no longer being the smallest person at court.

7. According to Gulliver, the palace of Brobdingnag is a heap of buildings seven miles around.

8. Gulliver is transported around the kingdom in a box (actually there were two boxes of different sizes).

9. The most hateful sight in Brobdingnag, according to Gulliver, was that of gigantic lice on peoples’ bodies.

10. Gulliver is bothered in Brobdingnag by gigantic flies.