An “unreliable narrator” can be described as a complex and enigmatic character through whose perspective the story is told. Be it a result of personal bias, the cloudy haze of nostalgia, or outright insanity, an unreliable narrator lies for many reasons—both purposefully and unconsciously. So, what makes a liar such a good storyteller? Well, when readers cannot trust the narrator to tell the truth, it is up to them to decipher the real story and trust their own judgment rather than what is being falsely fabricated. Cast in this detective role, readers become more deeply immersed in the narrative as opposed to being mere spectators. One becomes better situated in the colourful worlds of fiction than in the four walls of the bedroom one reads in. Here are some examples of unreliable narrators leaving us with a broken compass to find the truth:
Nelly in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
A fitting example, considering the recent film adaptation disgracing cinema screens, Nelly is the perfect model for the selective storyteller. Riddled with bias, she lets her personal prejudices cloud her judgment, painting Cathy as the brattish antagonist in her “true gossip fashion.”
Nick and Amy Dunne in Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Concerned more with incriminating each other than factual accuracy, Nick and Amy are master manipulators in constructing the narrative to fit their personal agendas. Due to their deceptive nature, deciphering between who to believe means plucking out two short straws.
Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia, the validity behind the Chief’s account of life in a psychiatric hospital renders it difficult to discern between the blurred boundaries of reality and his hallucinations.
Unreliable narrators are more than literary devices orchestrating plot twists, challenging our perspectives, and revealing the truth as subjective and something to question before blindly accepting it as correct. Through these unreliable storytellers we are encouraged to trust our own moral compass rather than those provided for us, offering a path for self-reflection on our journey through the narrative. Like how we should not judge a book by its cover, neither then should we judge its narrator as a pinnacle of truth.
Photo by Albane Mbow for The Student