Explanation: He was amazed how so impotent and groveling an insect as I (these were his expressions) would entertain such inhuman ideas.

Explanation:

He was amazed how so impotent and groveling an insect as I (these were his expressions) would entertain such inhuman ideas.

Answer: This extract is chosen from Chapter 7, Part 2 of Jonathan Swift's famous satirical masterpiece Gulliver's Travels. Here swift expresses the amazement of the king from the horrible description of Gulliver about the terrible engines and their importance in his country.

When Gulliver emphatically elaborates about the arms and ammunitions and their necessity in the Brobdingnagian country, the king is seriously amazed. The King had formed unfavourable opinions about English life because the King was living wholly isolated from the rest of the world and for that reason he was not in a position to come to the right conclusion about the countries of Europe. The King summarily respected Gulliver's suggestion that he should make himself more powerful by manufacturing gunpowder. Gulliver was prepared to reveal to the king the recipe or formula of that the king was horrified when Gulliver said that he knew of a method by which a destructive agent called gunpowder could be prepared He further added that this instrument of destruction could effectively arm the king against all possible opponents. This astounded him and he bluntly said that it was shocking that an important and grovelling insect-like Gulliver should entertain such inhuman ideas. The Brobdingnagians had huge figures and strength but did never think of such evil destruction. The King was definitely not prepared to make use of such terrible and destructive gunpowder. He was of the opinion that some evil genius hostile to mankind must have been the inventor of this destructive instrụment. The King made it clear that he would rather lose half of his kingdom than learn the secret of manufacturing the gunpowder.

This is a slur on human nature and Swift throws light on the people and government of his country and shows how inhuman they are. It is sharply ironic that insects like the man are thinking of terrible destruction. But monsters like Brobdingnagians could never dream of that because they knew how to run the Government for the welfare of the people. Thus, the king throws light on the evil practices and competitions for power that were very common in England during the time of the writer. As there was nothing blessing for the people in it except destructions and damnations, Swift very ruthlessly satirises such inhuman practices.