Lecture 16: I, Me, Mine—First-Person Point of View
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former selves with disappointment or even contempt, as we saw with
David in James Baldwin’s novel *LRYDQQL¶V5RRP. Indeed, we might
say that David is an antiheroic narrator: We are expected to take David’s
story at face value and to endorse his judgment of himself—though in
this case, we are meant to share his contempt for himself, rather than
endorse his heroism.The Unreliable Narrator
z The unreliable narrator is one who cannot be trusted by the reader. The
simplest version of this narrator simply lies to the reader, revealing his
or her deceit at the end of the story. In John Banville’s novel 'RFWRU
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named Rheticus, who was Copernicus’s student but is angry with his
teacher. His chapter is full of gossip and criticisms of Copernicus, and
only at the end does he confess that a crucial element in his story was
invented, casting doubt on nearly everything he has said.z There are also unreliable narrators who lie to the other characters in
the story and often end up deluding themselves. As we saw earlier, the
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3DSHUV is a literary critic who is desperate to acquire some old love
letters by a long-dead American poet. Throughout the novella, the
narrator wrestles with his conscience over what he has done to get the
OHWWHUVEXWLQWKHHQGKHVWLÀHVKLVJXLOWz Another sort of unreliable narrator deludes both himself or herself and
the reader. The experience of reading Eudora Welty’s story “Why I Live
at the P.O.” is like being cornered by a talkative and slightly unhinged
woman who believes she has been wronged by her family. Because of
the narrator’s self-pity and her unconscious comic exaggeration, it’s
clear that her version of events is extremely biased, if not untrue. But
unlike Rheticus, who ultimately admits that he has lied to the reader,
Welty’s narrator sticks to her guns.