Point of View

The point of view of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel appears to be third person through most of the book; however, there are a few instances where the narrator inserts himself into the action, making it apparent that the point of view is actually a first person narrative. The point of view is limited, shown by the fact that the narrator reports upon events and conversations but not on characters' thoughts, and appears to be reliable as his authority is never questioned or disproven.

The novel is written using a fairly equal distribution of exposition and dialogue. This is useful as the exposition serves to describe the exotic islands visited by Pantagruel and his men, while the dialogue contributes to distinguishing between the characters and identifying their attributes. The viewpoint focuses primarily on Pantagruel, though "Gargantua" focuses on Gargantua. Occasionally, the viewpoint varies to focus on one...