Point of View

The point of view for Gulliver's Travels is told from the first person narrative by Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon from England. However, it becomes apparent that his narration isn't always truthful or reliable. He is often more than a little naive and doesn't see situations for what they actually are.

Gulliver's viewpoint is quite limited and made moreso often because Gulliver doesn't understand what is happening and how completely absurd the situation and his perspective is at the time. When he is trying to convince several of the islands of the wisdom of having weapons of war, he completely believes that he is doing the rulers there a favor by telling them all about it. And yet, at the end of the novel, he develops a broader understanding and becomes less enchanted by the human race. He wants humans to be as perfect as...