In part 1, chapter 1 of Gulliver's Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, the narrator and adventuring protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, describes his career, education, and family. Gulliver is a surgeon in London who has always wanted to travel. And during this time, he reads extensively and learns many new languages.
Gulliver grows tired of sea travel. He takes a job on the antelope, anticipating it will be his final voyage. But a violent storm causes the antelope to crash into a rock. As the sole survivor of the wreck, Gulliver swims to safety, landing on the island of Lilliput, and he falls asleep. When he wakes, his body has been tied down to the beach by the island's six-inch-tall residents, the Lilliputians.
The tiny Lilliputians climb all over Gulliver and shoot tiny arrows at him. Now, Gulliver could easily escape, but he's impressed by his captor's bravery and remains still. The Lilliputians bring Gulliver a meal, and the people and their tiny...
horses marvel at the colossal amount of food he eats. Huge cuts of meat and massive hogsheads of alcohol are like doll food to Gulliver, who has suddenly found himself a giant. He realizes he's been given a drugged drink that puts him to sleep, and the Lilliputians transport his body on an engine, a giant cart, to meet their emperor. Gulliver is chained to an abandoned temple, which is the only building in their kingdom large enough to hold him.
Gulliver's wanderlust speaks spirit of exploration and colonization that continued to dominate European culture in the early 18th century following the Age of Discovery in which Europeans traveled to Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. Although he planned his journey on the Antelope to be his last, Gulliver expresses no regret about being stranded on Lilliput. Instead, he seems to relish the adventure and expresses curiosity and goodwill toward his captors, even though they've injured and restrained him. Having few alternatives, he has no boat in which to escape the island, and although he knows he could crush the Lilliputians, also acknowledges their greater numbers as a threat to his safety, he chooses to make the best of his situation and go with it in the spirit of adventure.