Unreliable narrator definition6/13/2023 ![]() ![]() Examples: Pat Peoples from The Silver Linings Playbook, Pi Patel in Life of Pi, Chief Bromden from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Narrator from Candy The narrator may suffer from hallucinations or dementia, or flashbacks caused by post-traumatic stress. The narrator may be going through a difficult adolescence, on drugs, or have an eating disorder: Lia from Wintergirls, Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye Examples: Alex from A Clockwork Orange, Nelly from Wuthering Heights, Mrs de Winter from Rebecca, Invisible Man from Invisible Man. If somebody is brought up in a certain way, their version of events will be skewed according to that culture. The narrator may be prejudiced by race, class, politics, culture or gender. Examples: Jack from Room, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Fynn. They tell their versions of a grown-up story through their limited understanding and experience. The narrator may be a different age or have completely different life experiences from the other people in the story. I have divided unreliable narrators into nine different types. In her post for The Guardian, Sarah Pinborough says: “There are, of course, different types of unreliable narrators those who are fooling themselves, those who are fooling others, and a range in between.” Pat Peoples from The Silver Linings Playbook Here are nine types of unreliable narrators: If they are well written, they can be powerful, clever, and fascinating. If unreliable narrators are badly crafted, they can be obvious, manipulative, misleading, confusing, and pretentious. It’s terrible.’ How can we believe anything he says ? If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. As Holden Caulfield tells us, ‘I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. Although most of us do this, some readers jump ship when they realise that even the narrator of this make-believe world cannot be trusted. If the author has not pulled off the initial deception with enough style or enticed readers with the power of the story, they may abandon the book.įiction relies on the willingness of readers to suspend belief. Readers are forced to form their own opinions about the events, and the characters’ motivations, in the story. Something happens – perhaps a lie is uncovered or an identity shown to be implausible. The con man, Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, in The Usual SuspectsĪt some point in a story, the reader realises the narrator cannot be trusted. The one thing they have in common is that they are deceptive. They can be comical or absurd, tragic or serious, terrifying or surreal. ![]() Theses narrators may be insane, angry, strung-out on drugs or alcohol, naïve, foreign, criminals, liars, or simply younger than everybody else. When we have an unreliable narrator, the reader cannot trust his or her version of the story. ![]() The reader believes that the narrator will be truthful and provide an accurate account of the story. ![]() The first-person narrator is powerful because that viewpoint is the only one we have to judge the events on the page. What narrators do not know or experience cannot be shown to the reader. What is an unreliable narrator?Īn unreliable narrator is a first-person narrator with a compromised viewpoint. There is a long history of unreliable narrators in fiction. This came as a shock to many readers and viewers, which is odd when everyone knows that there are at least two sides to every story. It seemed obvious that the author was employing the unreliable narrator technique in the story. I was somewhat surprised by the success of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. In this post, we look at the nine types of unreliable narrator. ![]()
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