Sunday, April 7, 2013

What is the point of view of Gulliver's Travels?

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is written using first person point of view. 


With regard to point of view used in literary works, the three most common types are:


First person:  The story is being told from the perspective of the main character.  The sentences of the work will include the first person pronouns "I" "me" "my".  For example: "MY FATHER had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons." (Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift)


Third person limited: The story is being told from the perspective of a narrator who may or may not be a character in the story.  The third person limited narrator will not divulge what other characters are thinking or feeling, but will merely report on what he or she thinks the other characters are thinking and feeling. Works written using third person narration will have sentences that include references to character names and the third person pronouns associated with the characters (he, she, it, her, him, it, hers, his, its).


Third person omniscient: The story is being told from the perspective of a narrator who is outside of the story, but has knowledge of the characters thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc.  Even though the work reads as if the narrator is on the outside looking in, the narrator is omniscient (all-knowing).

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