13: The Unreliable Narrator

The

Unreliable narrator

Ms. Payne's English Class

Essential Question

What is an unreliable narrator? How does it affect a story?

Today's Lesson

FIRST: Click on each word to see their definition. THEN: Write them down in your notes.

This week's Vocabulary

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absolute

civil

conscious

hierarch

idealism

innocence

tenuous

contrite

futile

defiance

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Let's get into today's lesson!

Today's Lesson

In storytelling, there are three separate parties that exist: Author: Creates the people and events in the story Audience: Reads and interprets the story Narrator: Presents the story

What is an unreliable narrator?

An unreliable narrator is someone that the readers can’t trust Developed by the author who usually makes a negative statement about the narrator. Unreliable narrators can be created through psychological unbalance, strong opinions, or the author’s attempt to trick the audience.

What is an unreliable narrator?

At the beginning of the story, it is immediately clear that the narrator is mentally unbalanced. The story may provide many clues about the narrator's unreliability. The narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed, but multiple hints cause the audience to question what they are reading.

What is an unreliable narrator?

• The Madman
• The Naif
• The Clown/Trickster
• The Liar
• The Picar

Types of Unreliable narrators

Sometimes the narrator is unreliable by the nature of who that character is. The character is experiencing mental illness. Some stories are narrated by such terrible people that they cannot tell stories objectively. They do not know their actions are wrong or bad, and they do not think of themselves as monsters or their actions as monstrous.

The Madman

• The unreliable narrator is not always deliberately deceptive.
• Sometimes, a narrator is unreliable due to youth or naivete.
• This could be a child or a person who is child-like
• They are simply reporting the world as he understands it, so he is not always accurately reporting the world around him/her.
• Their perception is immature or limited
• Example: Forest Gump

The Naif

• Sometimes the narrator purposefully tries to trick and mislead the audience.

• He doesn't take the convention of narration seriously and plays with truth and expectation.

• He aims to deceive the reader until the end of the story when he finally reveals his true identity in a final twist ending

The Clown/Tricks

• An unreliable narrator can be a mature narrator who deliberately misrepresents himself.

• Sometimes to obscure his unseemly discreditable past conduct.

• They can lie to hide things they don't want the audience to know about them.

The Liar

• When the narrator is characterized by exaggeration and bragging he is often unreliable.

• They exaggerate their abilities and what they have done and cannot be trusted to tell the truth about themselves due to bragging.

The Picar

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Nice Work!

Great Job!