* Cannot be trusted to tell the truth or the whole truth. They may be deliberately lying, mistaken, biased, or simply lacking the ability to fully understand what's happening.
* May have a limited perspective. They may be naive, self-centered, or influenced by their own desires, fears, or prejudices, leading to a skewed view of events.
* May be intentionally misleading the reader. This could be done for comedic effect, to create suspense, or to highlight a specific theme.
* May have a hidden agenda. Their narration might be designed to manipulate the reader's understanding or sympathy.
* May be demonstrably wrong. The reader might be given clues, through other characters, events, or even the narrator's own contradictions, that their account isn't entirely accurate.
Examples of Unreliable Narrators:
* Huckleberry Finn from *The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* by Mark Twain: He's young, naive, and often prejudiced, but he learns and grows over the course of the story.
* The narrator from *The Tell-Tale Heart* by Edgar Allan Poe: He's clearly mentally unstable and his account of the murder is unreliable.
* Holden Caulfield from *The Catcher in the Rye* by J.D. Salinger: He's a teenager grappling with existentialism and alienation, and his perceptions of the world are often distorted.
Unreliable narrators are often used by authors to:
* Create suspense and intrigue. The reader is kept guessing about what is really happening.
* Explore complex psychological themes. The reader is forced to consider different perspectives and question the nature of truth.
* Enhance the impact of the story. The reader's understanding of the events is shaped by the narrator's unreliability, making the story more powerful and memorable.