Narrators play a pivotal role in storytelling, presenting the events and details that shape the storyline through their unique perspectives. The narrator is essentially a tool employed by the author to give readers a selective perspective of the story. As readers, we process the story through the eyes of the narrator. Our understanding of the various literary elements—plot, dialogue, conflict, resolution, theme—is shaped by the narrator’s very own (biased) perception. Whether it be first-person narration, where the narrator themself is narrating the story, or third-person narration, where a third party who is not directly involved in the storyline is narrating, we as readers share the narrator’s impression of the world around them.
As readers, we inherently rely on narrators to convey their stories in an authentic way, allowing us to process or make meaning of events and conflicts on our own. However, the fact of the matter is that many narrators are not reliable at all. Every narrator is unique and influenced by their respective biases and emotions. Oftentimes, in following along with a narrator’s rendition of a story, we subconsciously adopt those same biases and emotions—which prevents us from asking ourselves a critical question: Can we really trust the narrator’s version of the story?
There are various different characteristics and scenarios that can deem a narrator unreliable or untruthful. Consider, for instance, a narrator who is under the influence of substances. Drugs and alcohol are known to be able to impair thinking, judgment, and memory—so how is it that we, as readers, can trust a narrator who may not have a solid recollection of the very events and interactions they are conveying to us? Another factor that can lead to unreliable narration is mental instability. If the narrator has a severe psychological disorder, such as one characterized by visual and/or auditory hallucinations, their rendition of the story may not align with reality. In line with this factor is another: trauma and repression. When a narrator is describing a traumatic event they experienced, they may not remember the details of the event entirely or may remember it differently than it actually occurred due to memory distortion and psychological repression. Yet another reason a narrator’s conveyance of a story may be untrustworthy is their use of manipulation. A narrator may deliberately manipulate the details of a story so that they are favored in the eyes of the reader. They may purposely conceal certain information from readers, or paint a biased image of other characters. Furthermore, a narrator’s age may contribute to their reliability in the telling of events; if a narrator is young, they may possess a more naive perspective of the world around them and lack the maturity needed to fully understand the complexities and nuances of life. Can we rely on a child to relay an intricate story with full accuracy?
Unreliable narrators are more prevalent in literature than one might think—in fact, many famous novels are regarded as having narrators that may not be entirely trustworthy. One such example is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which was notably adapted into a movie that went on to win several Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. The novel is narrated by the main character Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a 16-year-old boy from India who becomes stranded in the Pacific Ocean after a tragic shipwreck during his family's voyage to Canada, leaving him as the sole survivor. While stranded at sea, Pi inevitably sustains heavy physical and emotional trauma from prolonged dehydration, malnutrition, and isolation. During his retelling of the tragic event, an older Pi explicitly mentions that his memory of it is jumbled. There are several clues suggesting that he becomes mentally unstable and detached from reality while marooned; for example, many readers speculate that the Bengal tiger, which was also on the ship and survived the wreckage, is merely a hallucination created by Pi to cope with his loneliness. Such factors detract from Pi’s credibility as a narrator. A second prime example of an unreliable narrator is Jean Louise “Scout” Finch from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a renowned literary classic that was also adapted into an award-winning film. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story set in the miniscule town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930s. Through Scout’s narration of her childhood in a town rife with racism and prejudice, we learn about her father, Atticus Finch, a compassionate lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. Scout’s narration can be deemed unreliable primarily because of her young age; her innocence and lack of maturity inhibit her from being able to fully grasp the complexities of such a sensitive and tragic case. As a child, she is naive and relatively detached from the bigotry that plagues the deep south, causing her to have a shallow interpretation of the events and interactions she witnesses.
This leads us to the ultimate question: Why have unreliable narrators in the first place? Why might an author choose to convey her or his story through the lens of someone who cannot be trusted to present it authentically or accurately? For one, unreliable narrators add tension and suspense to a story—and, for many readers, tension and suspense make a story more engaging and worthwhile. Readers realize that the narrator may not be entirely trustworthy—whether due to their age, mental state, or prolific use of substances—we may question our own understanding of the events and interactions we have read and reevaluate all that has occurred. Oftentimes, an author will also inject an unreliable narrator into a story with the intention of giving us a biased perspective. The author may want the readers to see the world through the narrator’s lens, specifically, and selectively channel the narrator’s thoughts and emotions. We are more likely to empathize with the narrator if the story is being presented from their point of view.
All in all, unreliable narrators, though flawed, provide a powerful storytelling device— they challenge us to think critically, question the truth, and uncover deeper layers of meaning within a story, reminding us that perception is often as significant as reality.
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