In Jonathan SwiftÆs GulliverÆs Travels, Chapter VII of Part Two provides Lemuel GulliverÆs account of his conversations with the King of the Brobdingnagians. In this account, Gulliver maintains that the King adheres to ônarrow principlesö and holds ôshort viewsö on topics that are viewed more broadly in Europe (Swift II.vii). However, even though Gulliver takes umbrage to many of the KingÆs views, it is Gulliver whose ideas and attitudes come off as ethnocentric in this section from GulliverÆs Travels.
Gulliver maintains that the King and his people are secluded from the rest of the world and its cultures, something Lemuel maintains manifests ômany prejudicesö and ônarrowness of thinkingö in the King and the Brobdingnagians (Swift II.vii). However, Swift is using irony and satire in this section, for it is actually Gulliver (i.e. Europeans) who come off as narrow-minded and prejudiced. Gulliver admits in the beginning of this section that he has ôalways borne that laudable partiality to my own country,ö practically a definition of ethnocentrism (Swift II.vii). At the same time, Gulliver argues that the prejudices and narrowness of thinking exhibited by the King and the Brobdingnagians are ones from which ôwe and the politer countries of Europe are wholly exemptö (Swift II.vii).
Of course, European history is filled with ethnocentrism and conquest based on prejudices and narrowness of thinking. However, Swift satirizes this aspect of European culture in this section by showing how ludicrous some European notions seem compared to the alleged narrow views of the Brobdingnagians. For instance, Gulliver is greatly offended that the King dismisses his offer to help his workmen make gunpowder. Gulliver explains to the King that gunpowder properly used can even ôdestroy the whole metropolisö but at this idea the King is ôstruck with horrorö (Swift II.vii). The King finds GulliverÆs descripti
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