Manipulating the Reader: Deciphering Unreliable Narrators
Unreliable narrators are one of the most intriguing and powerful tools available to writers, offering the potential to create deep, layered narratives full of suspense, intrigue, and complexity. By manipulating the perspective and trustworthiness of the narrator, authors can lead readers through a maze of deception, bias, and personal limitations, all while delivering a story that challenges assumptions and keeps the audience guessing. Lets take a look at unreliable narrators in creative writing, examine how they function within a story, and provide creative writing prompts to help you experiment with this fascinating narrative device.
What Is an Unreliable Narrator?
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The unreliability can stem from a variety of factors, such as the narrator’s limited knowledge, personal biases, memory distortions, emotional instability, or intentional deceit. The narrator’s version of events may not be completely false, but it is presented in a way that leads readers to question its accuracy, reliability, or completeness.
The key to an unreliable narrator is the gap between what is presented and what might be the truth. This gap can create suspense and provoke readers to actively engage with the story, piecing together the truth for themselves.
Writers use unreliable narrators for a variety of reasons. One of the most common is to create tension and surprise. An unreliable narrator can keep readers on edge by subverting expectations and challenging them to reconsider the narrative’s truth. The narrative itself becomes a puzzle to be solved, with readers trying to piece together the fragments of the story from different angles.
An unreliable narrator can also deepen the thematic content of a story. For instance, if a character’s perception of reality is warped by trauma, addiction, or an emotional conflict, their unreliability can underscore themes of memory, truth, perception, or mental illness. By filtering the entire story through this unreliable lens, writers can examine how different perspectives shape our understanding of events.
Types of Unreliable Narrators
The Liar
This narrator is intentionally deceitful, presenting a version of events that suits their agenda. This could be for personal gain, manipulation, or simply to avoid responsibility or guilt. Think of the classic con artist or a character who is hiding their true intentions.
Example: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is an example of a liar. The narrative he provides about his life and actions is highly suspect, and the reader has to question whether what he’s describing is real or a product of his deranged mind.
The Confused or Forgetful Narrator
This type of unreliable narrator is unaware of their own shortcomings and may distort events because they cannot recall them accurately. They may have memory problems, suffer from mental illness, or be trapped in a fog of confusion, yet their narrative is presented with confidence.
Example: In The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, the narrator, Stevens, suffers from emotional repression and selective memory. The way he reflects on his life is shaped by his inability to see the true cost of his loyalties to his former employer, and this produces a slow reveal of his own delusions.
The Emotional Narrator
This type of unreliable narrator distorts events based on their emotional state. A character who is angry, depressed, or in love may interpret the world around them in a way that is coloured by their feelings, leading them to see things that aren’t really there, or fail to see what’s right in front of them.
Example: Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a great example of an emotional unreliable narrator. His anger, cynicism, and confusion affect how he perceives the people and events around him, and his narrative is full of contradictions and distortions.
The Delusional Narrator
In this case, the narrator has a skewed view of reality, either due to mental illness, a distorted worldview, or deliberate self-deception. This type of narrator can be both fascinating and unsettling, as the reader slowly uncovers the extent of the narrator’s delusion.
Example: In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator’s descent into madness is portrayed through her increasingly unreliable perspective. What begins as a simple description of her surroundings slowly turns into a bizarre narrative that confuses the reader and reflects her psychological deterioration.
How to Create an Unreliable Narrator
1. Develop the Narrator’s Motivations: For an unreliable narrator to be effective, the reasons behind their unreliability must be clear to the writer (if not to the reader immediately). A narrator who is deliberately misleading, for instance, might do so for personal gain, revenge, or out of shame. A narrator who is confused or forgetful might suffer from a psychological condition, old age, or trauma.
2. Establish the Narrator’s Voice: The voice of an unreliable narrator is often characterised by inconsistency, contradiction, or manipulation. Pay attention to the tone, language, and pacing of the narration. The narrator’s voice should reflect their mental state and level of awareness.
3. Introduce Discrepancies: One way to make a narrator unreliable is to introduce discrepancies in the details they provide. These discrepancies can be subtle or dramatic, such as changing facts, different interpretations of the same events, or selective omissions. Readers should feel a sense of unease as they begin to notice that something doesn’t quite add up.
4. Use Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing can be a useful tool for hinting that the narrator may not be trustworthy. By dropping small clues about the narrator’s unreliability early in the story, you allow the reader to gradually become aware of the deception or confusion.
5. Create Tension Between the Narrator’s Perception and Reality: A key element of unreliable narration is the gap between what the narrator perceives and what is actually happening. This tension keeps the reader on edge and encourages them to actively participate in the unravelling of the story. The narrator may have an emotional or psychological blind spot that leads them to misinterpret the world, and the reader can begin to see the truth emerge through these discrepancies.
Writing Prompts for Unreliable Narrators
Unreliable narrators are a great way to deepen the complexity of a story, but writing them effectively requires careful planning and execution. Here are some prompts to help you experiment with this narrative technique:
- The Confused Witness
Write a story from the perspective of a character who has witnessed a crime but cannot remember the details clearly. They might have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or their memory may be impaired. As they try to piece together what happened, they become increasingly uncertain, but they’re convinced that their version of events is the truth.
- The Liar with a Secret
Create a character who is lying about a significant event in their life—either because they’re ashamed, embarrassed, or trying to protect someone else. The reader knows they’re lying, but your job is to drop hints and contradictions in the story so that the truth slowly unravels.
- The Mind of a Child
Write a story from the point of view of a child who is trying to make sense of an event that is far beyond their understanding. Their unreliable narration could stem from their limited vocabulary, inability to understand complex relationships, or lack of knowledge about the world.
- The Self-Deceptive Narrator
Create a character who is in complete denial about a truth they refuse to accept. This could be someone who is unwilling to admit their role in a tragedy, someone who insists on seeing themselves as a hero when they are not, or a person who justifies morally questionable actions with distorted logic.
- The Unreliable Journal
Write a series of journal entries from a character who is slowly losing their grip on reality. The character might begin with an outwardly coherent narrative, but as the entries progress, the inconsistencies in their thinking and perception become more apparent.
- The Unreliable Interview
Create a short story in the form of an interview between a detective (or journalist) and a suspect (or witness) who is unreliable. The story should reveal clues and contradictions in the narrative, with the reader slowly uncovering the truth behind the façade.
Unreliable narrators add a layer of complexity to storytelling, allowing authors to explore themes of truth, perception, and reality. Whether the narrator is a liar, a victim of confusion, or simply emotionally skewed, their unreliability creates tension, suspense, and mystery. As a writer, experimenting with unreliable narration can be an exciting way to challenge your readers’ assumptions and deepen the emotional resonance of your story. By developing nuanced, multi-dimensional characters and carefully placing clues and contradictions, you can master this technique and create narratives that leave readers questioning what’s true and what’s not.
So, next time you sit down to write, consider introducing an unreliable narrator into your story. The possibilities are endless, and the results could be thrilling.
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