Gulliver has begun to accept the Brobdingnagian point of view, but Swift will not let him forget that he is not a giant. He may adopt certain ideas of the giants, but once Gulliver begins to have pretensions, he is literally knocked down to size. The mishaps with the hailstones, the spaniel, and the mole hole he falls into are not really serious, but they serve to discipline him. He is humiliated; none of them could have happened to a giant.
The humiliating incidents multiply. After a series of physical threats, Gulliver’s emotional make-up is attacked. The maids of honor treat him as a plaything. They strip him and are curious about his maleness, but they ignore his masculinity. They offend his sexual pride by treating him as though he has no sexual significance. Then, in the abduction scene, Gulliver is likened not to a toy, but to a baby monkey. Swift continues to reinforce Gulliver’s connection with animal smallness. The progression has been handled with great care. Gulliver’s life was imperiled, his safety was endangered, his sexual pride was assaulted, and now he has been reduced to being monkey-like. Despite all, though, Gulliver is still tempted to brag about himself. He is still not aware that the giants are morally superior.
