Transcript The Unreliable Narrator

The Unreliable Narrator
From
John Hewitt’s
Writing Tips
An unreliable narrator is a first-person narrator that
for some reason has a compromised point-of-view.
In all stories with a first-person narrator, the narrator
serves as a filter for the events.
What the narrator does not know or observe cannot
be explained to the reader.
Usually, however, the reader trusts that the narrator is
knowledgeable and truthful enough to give them an
accurate representation of the story.
In the case of an unreliable narrator (sometimes
called a fallible narrator), the reader has reason not to
trust what the narrator is saying.
The narrator may be unreliable for many
reasons. Some of the typical scenarios are:
The narrator may be of a dramatically different age than the
people in the story, such as a child attempting to explain adult
actions
The narrator may have prejudices about race, class or gender
The narrator may have low intelligence
The narrator may suffer from hallucinations or dementia
The narrator may have a personality flaw such as pathological
lying or narcissism
The narrator may be trying to make a point that is contrary to
the actions of the story or be attempting to libel one of the
characters due to a grudge
Whatever flaw the narrator has, at some point the
reader will realize that the narrator’s interpretation of
the events cannot be fully trusted and will begin to
form their own opinions about the events and
motivations within the story.
Some readers will be put off by this approach.
Stories depend on the willing suspension of disbelief,
and readers can be pulled out of the story when they
realize the narrator cannot be trusted.
This is why telling a tale from this viewpoint can be
problematic. There is a fine line between distrusting
the narrator and distrusting the writer.
As you are reading the short stories and
the 2 novels, keep track of how unreliable
the narrators are. Use this information to
keep track and take notes on the
narrators. You can and should use these
notes when you write for the assessments.
We will read a short story together on Tuesday, October 8
“The Cask of Amontillado”
You will choose an E.A. Poe story that you haven’t read from this list:
“The Black Cat”
“The Mask of the Red Death”
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
“The Pit and the Pendulum
All of these stories can be found at poestories.com
Our two novels for this MT are:
The Turn of the Screw (TotS) – online at
http://web.archive.org/web/20080915175905/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/
modeng/public/JamTurn.html. There is an excellent read along audio version
of this as well at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lunrRoxYmN4.
I have also create a reading assistant documents of this text for you on google
docs:
https://docs.google.com/a/students.halldale.org/document/d/1mBmezHj9sc8
HuwZR7orxswgNGDA5L8dzl_XNt-YCrPw/edit#heading=h.icvebmulgun2
Catcher in the Rye – books given out in class
The measurement topic reads:
4.0
Investigate the purposes and reasons why an author would use
an unreliable narrator. Investigate the paradox of an unreliable narrator
personifying a universal theme or the novel’s theme. Choose more
sophisticated texts to understand when a narrator is unreliable.
Taxonomy: Knowledge Utilization
What strategies does the author use to reveal or conceal the reliability of
the narrator?
3.0
Understands when a narrator is unreliable and how it affects the
point of view.
Taxonomy: Analysis
Give examples of untruths and exaggerations the narrator uses and how
it they affect the readers perception of the narrator.
Identify the logic behind the author's use of an unreliable narrator to affect
the point of view.
2.0
Knows that a narrator may be unreliable.
Taxonomy: Comprehension
Can define and identify unreliable narrators.