What is an Unreliable Narrator: Definition & Examples

Unreliable narrators are characters who deliver stories without trustworthiness. Unreliable narrators may be exposed to readers in many ways – instantly, gradually, or later in the narrative when a plot surprise makes us question whether we’ve been a bit too trusting.

While literary critic Wayne C. Booth invented the phrase “unreliable narrator” in his 1961 book The Rhetoric of Fiction, authors have been using it for far longer than that. For example, Edgar Allan Poe’s 1843 tale “The Tell-Tale Heart” and 1847’s Wuthering Heights both use this narrative device.

But wait, is any narrator really reliable?

This debate may take us into a rabbit hole. No, there aren’t any 100% trustworthy narrators. The “Rashomon Effect” tells us that our subjective perceptions prohibit us from ever having a totally clear memory of past events. “Many authors have utilized the Rashomon Effect to describe tales from various first-person viewpoints – allowing readers to decide which account is more credible.”

Literary Function of an Unreliable Narrator

Fiction that challenges our preconceptions is powerful. Unreliable narrators may generate ambiguity and distort reality, enabling us to draw our own judgments.

Fallible storytellers may also generate suspense by keeping readers guessing and reading between the lines to figure out what’s going on. Unreliable narrators may be fascinating, nuanced characters who urge readers to keep reading to discover why the narrator is concealing things.

The unreliable narrator lives in the story’s universe and has an inherent prejudice or agenda. While an unreliable narrator in the second or third person is possible, it is uncommon.

Types of Unreliable Narrators

Trying to categorize every kind of character is like categorizing every type of unreliable narrator. However, we’ve classified these dubious raconteurs into three categories to better comprehend their literary function.

1) Deliberately Unreliable: Narrators who are aware of their deception.

This storyteller deliberately misleads the reader because they can. They have your attention, the point of view, and the freedom to do anything they want with it.

People want to read about personalities they can relate to. One of the challenges of creating this kind of narrator is keeping us engaged even if we know we’re being mislead. We don’t have to like them, but we must comprehend them. Even Alex from A Clockwork Orange has a human side: his yearning for personal independence. So his blatant falsehoods are an act of liberation.

Deliberately Unreliable Example

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
It’s about a cruel protagonist and narrator who has no feeling of duty to anybody except himself. His lack of believability is intentional and subtle. His ‘Nadsat’ accent confuses other characters and keeps the reader guessing. He is also a master manipulator who can persuade others to relax their guard.

To imply familiarity and camaraderie, Alex frequently calls the narrative audience “brother,” a word that indicates familiarity and friendship. Readers are never quite sure whether they are being trusted or if Alex is playing a trick on them.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
While some imperfect storytellers lack credibility due to inaccurate or distorted information, others lack credibility due to omissions. They omit vital information, leaving the reader in the dark. This is the situation in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, with Dr. Sheppard as the unreliable narrator.

Dr. Sheppard walks us through Poirot’s murder investigation. Throughout the narrative, he is kind and impartial, explaining events as they unfolded. The murderer’s voice is exposed only at the conclusion of the book. Sheppard also admits at the end that he began writing the book to chronicle Poirot’s failure. So the whole text was a comprehensive falsehood by omission. Deliberate deceit!

2) Evasively Unreliable: Narrators who unconsciously alter the truth.

This narrator’s motives are frequently murky – sometimes it’s self-preservation, sometimes it’s more manipulative. Not until later in the novel does the narrator realize they’re lying. Their unreliability comes from a desire to justify something, and their tales are often exaggerated or watered down.

Characters with ambiguous motives may keep readers waiting for the narrator to come to his senses, while forming their own conclusions.

Evasively Unreliable Example

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The tale of Pi being lost at sea with a bunch of animals is told in two versions towards the conclusion of the book. Pi never admits which version is true: is the first a coping technique, and the second to appease the skeptical cops? The narrator doesn’t make it obvious which version is the real one, and even if he did, would we trust him?

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
We Need To Talk About Kevin is told via Eva’s letters to her husband after her son commits a fatal assault at his high school. It’s difficult to be completely honest with oneself, particularly when examining one’s own faults.

The only thing objective about Eva is that her reports are subjective, leaving us to draw our own judgments. Was Kevin always sociopathic? Was Eva a good mother or did she reject Kevin? How much of Kevin’s acts should Eva bear? The solutions aren’t in Eva’s letters, but they do encourage us to consider the issues.

3) Naively Unreliable: Narrators who are honest but lack all the information.

Unlike the previous two kinds, this narrator lacks a conventional, “greater understanding.” It may let the reader see your tale in a new light. The narrator’s “unorthodox” views may only offer partial answers, requiring us to delve deeper and make connections. These naïve narrators may also help readers see things we would otherwise overlook.

Naively Unreliable Example

Room by Emma Donoghue
Jack, a five-year-old unreliable narrator, is frequently cited. Jack is not concealing or giving incorrect information to the reader. He just recounts the facts as he sees them, but as a kid, he frequently lacks context for what he is seeing. Because of this, even if Jack’s voice is achingly honest, his narration is not a reliable source of knowledge.

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
Forrest is another example of a narrator who isn’t intentionally untrustworthy to fool readers or “save face.” We know from away that Forrest isn’t “normal” and that we can’t accept anything he says at its value. Forrest starts recounting his biography, interspersed with tales of significant historical events he was supposedly directly engaged with. We can’t be sure he’s not lying, but if he is, he’s living the dream.

An unreliable narrator shatters the reader-storyteller bond. But you don’t want to completely destroy that trust or you’ll lose the reader. With just enough mist surrounding the narrator’s reports to raise questions in our thoughts and the underlying feeling that there’s more to the story, you may create a reader-narrator link to keep the pages of your book turning.

Unreliable Narrator

Once you know why your narrator is unreliable, you can plan how to utilize this literary technique to accomplish your narrative objective.