In Lilliput, Gulliver begins as a prisoner but really only because he agrees to be confined; he could easily break his bonds if he wanted to. He is released from confinement once the emperor of Lilliput comes to understand what an incredible weapon he can be against Blefuscu. His strength and size are then exploited by the emperor to debilitate the Blefuscudian naval fleet; however, when Gulliver refuses orders to completely decimate the Blefuscudian people, the emperor turns on him and he is accused of treason. He escapes to Blefuscu, and these people actually help him to build a boat and stock it with sufficient supplies to return home.
In Brobdingnag, Gulliver is initially exploited as well, but this time as an entertainer. He is too small to be anything but a curiosity, but the man he first lives with makes a tidy profit by forcing him to put on shows for everyone who comes to see him. However, this man and his exploitative motives are an aberration in Brobdingnag, where most people—including the king and Gulliver's little nurse, Glumdalclitch—attempt to protect him. To be sure, he is a source of entertainment for many, but after the king purchases him from the man who found him, Gulliver is never endangered or controlled the way the Lilliputians tried to do. The king eventually comes to look down on him as a result of the intelligence he shares about his fellow Englishmen and their penchant for starting wars and making weapons; this was something admired by the Lilliputians.
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