Unreliable narrators

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Unreliable narrators
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Definition

• An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in
  literature, film, or theatre, who is not
  trustworthy. His story cannot be taken at face
  value by the reader! He cant be trusted.
• Unreliable narrators are almost by definition
  first-person narrators.
• The unreliability may be obvious to the reader
  throughout the novel, may be revealed gradually
  or may come as a single revelation that results
  in a major plot twist. (final twist)

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Different types of unreliable narrators

• Sometimes the narrator is unreliable by the very
  nature of who that character is. In other words,
  some stories are related by narrators by who are
  such terrible people that they cannot tell their
  stories objectively. And as they do not go around
  thinking of themselves as monsters, they justify
  their actions to themselves. 
• THE MADMAN (The character experiencing mental
  illness)
• Ex The Tell-tale Heart (E.A Poe)
• Lolita ( V. Nabokov)

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• The unreliable narrator is not always
  deliberately deceptive. Sometimes, a narrator is
  unreliable due to youth or naïveté. He is simply
  reporting the world as he understands it and so,
  is not always accurately interpreting what is
  happening around him. His perception is immature
  or limited.
• THE NAÏF
• Ex Forrest Gump
• The curious incident of the dog in the
  night time (Mark Haddon)

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• Sometimes the narrator is unreliable as he does
  not take the narration seriously and consciously
  plays with conventions, truth and the reader's
  expectations. He aims to deceive the reader to
  the very end of the story when he finally reveals
  his true identity in a final twist /a twist
  ending.
• THE CLOWN / THE TRICKSTER

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• An unreliable narrator can be a mature narrator
  who deliberately misrepresents himself, sometimes
  to obscure his unseemly or discreditable past
  conduct.
• THE LIAR

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