Why does the farmer exhibit Gulliver for money in Brobdingnag?

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Illustration of Lemuel Gulliver lying on the ground, tied down by tiny Lilliputians, with crowds and small buildings in the background, from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. — Gulliver’s Travels Lemuel Gulliver in Lilliput, illustration from an edition of Jonathan Swift's *Gulliver's Travels*.

In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the farmer in Brobdingnag exhibits Gulliver for money simply because he views the tiny traveler as a curiosity to be exploited for profit. After a farm worker discovers Gulliver, the farmer takes possession of him and begins displaying him to others to earn income, treating him as a spectacle rather than a person. This situation highlights the indignities Gulliver faces due to his small size in a land of giants, where he is eventually purchased by the queen and becomes a favorite at court.12