Why Create an Unreliable Narrator?

Why would you intentionally mislead your reader? Perhaps, it is because unreliable narrators are far more interesting than reliable narrators and can connect with your reader on multiple levels. For example, who wouldn’t want to hear a story told by a psychopath, a liar, or a child? Possibly even someone psychologically unstable, a politician, or a conspiracy theorist could spin a tale of interest and intrigue that takes your reader into uncharted territory. If the genre is fantasy, a demon, a fairy, or the moon may have an interesting perspective; but is it trustworthy? Such a person or entity withholds information, lies to the reader, and deliberately deludes them. This forces your reader to think critically about the story to draw their own conclusions. It can also cause the story to become a page-turner luring in your reader with tawdry promises and inaccurate points of view that no doubt stimulate the intellect.

A literary critic named Wayne C. Booth in 1961 first used the term “unreliable narrator.” However, the device has been used for hundreds of years. One early example of this technique is in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath. In her prologue, the narrator brags, exaggerates, and omits information crucial for the reader. She is not naïve or unable to give insights, but her insights may not be reliable. This makes the reader want to continue reading in anticipation of what is to be ultimately revealed.

Using an unreliable narrator invests your reader on a deeper level. They are reading your text with peaked interest looking for the clues and foreshadowing elements that eventually leads them to the truth. Be careful however, the narrator and reader relationship is a tenuous one. There needs to be a clear purpose and solid connection between the two. With an unreliable narrator, you can break the trust between the narrator and the reader, but do not obliterate it. Remember, readers like a feeling of satisfaction, so tread carefully and do not to deprive them of that sweet feeling of a story arc arriving at full circle.
 
Three Types of Unreliable Narrator

• Deliberate
• Impaired
• Naïve

 
Examples  
The unreliable narrator shows up a lot in the crime/mystery/thriller genres. Agatha Christie is an expert at this technique of leading the reader down the garden path just to find out it was the gardener all along, or as in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the narrator of the story turns out to be the murderer. This is an example of a deliberate unreliable narrator. On the other hand, Daphne du Maurier creates an unreliable narrator in Rebecca not because she is intentionally deceiving the reader, but the narrator simply does not have enough of a sense of self throughout most of the novel to inform the reader of events and characters objectively. She omits information like all first person internally focalized narrators. Mrs. de Winter filters details and confessions to exonerate her own questionable actions. This is an example of a naïve narrator. In The Life of Pi Yann Martel offers what seems like a somewhat balanced view then, during the plot twist at the end, the readers find out the narrator chose to tell the story out of a response to trauma causing him to become psychologically unstable or impaired. Nelly Dean in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights offers the literary device of a narrative frame to present an unreliable perspective of events making her arguably another deliberate example.
 
Why Indeed   
If you like intricate plots and complex characters, try your hand at the unreliable narrator. They are usually, but not always presented in first person point of view (third person limited can get the job done also). Unreliable narrators often give the reader a thrill in the form of a plot twist or sudden realization for the protagonist. Just remember to drop clues and use an appropriate amount of foreshadowing to keep your reader in the loop and actively engaged with the story. Not enough engagement and the reader can get lost, too much and they can easily become overwhelmed.