module 7

Module 7: Lesson and Notes

 

What is narration?

To know what an unreliable narrator is, it is important to be familiar with how narration works.

· Narration is the process of telling a story or recounting an event. 

· The narrator determines what details are included and how they are arranged.

· The narrator is, essentially, the one determining point of view and the facts (or lies) that the reader gets to know. 

The different kinds of common narration, or point of view (POV) in literature are:

· Third-person: This kind of narrator is not typically a character in the story, but instead is outside of the characters. This type of narration allows the reader insight to the action from several different perspectives.

· There are three types of third-person narrations:

· Omniscient (all-knowing): This type of narrator is able to give insight and perspective from several characters, mostly just the main characters (but a few minor characters as well).  Because they are not a character in the action, they are not limited to any one character's perception. 

· Limited omniscient: This narrator is generally tells the story around one of the major characters, focusing primarily on what this one character sees, feels, and perceives. There is very little revealed that this particular character does not know. 

· Objective: Objective narrators tend to tell just the action of the story without focusing on any specific character and without revealing the characters internal thoughts. Stories with objective narration use dialogue and action to reveal how the characters think and feel, much like a movie. 

· First-person: This narrator is typically a major or minor character telling their own story or the story of someone. This narrative style is mostly commonly uses the pronoun "I" .

· First-person narration reveals the internal thoughts and perspectives of only one character.

· The action of the story is clouded by the opinions of this one particular character and how they experience things. 

· Unreliable narrators: The unreliable narrator tends to also be first-person and often uses the pronoun "I".

· Unreliable narrators are often insane, unstable, and, intentionally or not, tend to mislead the reader. Or they could be incredible brilliant. 

· This type of narration forces the reader to come to their own conclusions about the action of the story once they figure out that the narrator is compromised.

· These stories could be told from the perspective of the "bad" guy, or villain. 

· Sometimes the reader doesn't know that they have been deceived until the very end of the story when it takes a twist and gives an unexpected ending like in Ambrose Bierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".

· Unreliable narrators aren't always crazy or bad. Sometimes they are sheltered or naïve. For example, the story could be told from the perspective of a child or someone innocent that doesn't know the value of what they are telling.