In literature, the term, ‘unreliable narrator’ can refer to someone who cannot be fully trusted, or believed. There can be a number of reasons for not trusting the narrator. They could be suffering from personal anguish, mental problems, or they might have a personal bias against another character which may be unfair, have a hidden agenda or, even, be naïve or lack intelligence. Unreliability should not be confused with irony, sarcasm or satire, where although the narrators cannot be taken literally, it does not mean that they are trying to deceive, either accidentally or on purpose. In my essay, I will examine the unreliable nature of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby and Lemuel Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels.
In the case of Nick, his unreliability starts around chapter 7 of the novel. Before this he seems to be a fairly reliable narrator, claiming to tell events as honestly as he can. Nick seems to be following Gatsby’s actions and it seems that the more bizarre Gatsby’s actions become, the more Nick becomes unreliable. By chapter 7, it is obvious that Nick’s mind is not entirely focused on what is going on around him. There is a large confrontation between Gatsby and Tom which Nick mainly gives a commentary of rather than giving his opinions, which he usually does.
He does not respond to when he is asked a question by Nick:
“‘Want any of this stuff? Jordan? Nick?’
I didn’t answer.
‘Nick?’ He asked again
‘What?’”
It is obvious that his mind is on other things at that moment, mainly Gatsby’s and Daisy’s affair. After the argument between Gatsby and Tom, Nick mentions that the afternoon “slipped away”. After such a confrontation it is unlikely that the afternoon would pass without any incident worth mentioning. Nick has his mind on the argument that has just happened and does not commentate accurately on the time shortly after that accurately. Another argument to suggest that he is not fully aware of what events are happening around him comes next when he even mentions that he just remembered that that day was his birthday. “Thirty – The promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair.” Also he does not like the idea of becoming older and it could be another negative effect on his mind which is making him unreliable as a narrator.
If becoming old is a problem for him and his mind is on other things at this point in the story, such as the argument between Nick and Gatsby then he would not be able to recall this time accurately. He does actually acknowledge the fact that his narrative may not be completely accurate, when, in chapter 7 Gatsby appears from behind a hedge to ask about whether it was him who had killed Wilson’s wife. This happened after the argument when Daisy was driving Gatsby’s car too fast.
“Gatsby stepped from between two bushes into the path. I must have felt pretty weird by that time, because I could think of nothing except the luminosity of his pink suit under the moon.”
Gatsby mentions the accident in a quite matter of fact way at first and it seems like he is not too concerned by it. Then he tells us that his reaction is because he “must have” felt weird, so he isn’t sure at all about how he really felt at that moment. For this reason, it is hard for Nick’s narrative to be taken as unbiased, as he is telling second hand information about an accident which Gatsby actually admits he will lie about in the future to save Daisy. The story of how Daisy knocked the girl down is actually Nick re-telling Gatsby’s story, so it cannot be guaranteed as accurate.
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travel’s, the protagonist and narrator is equally as unreliable, although it is in a different way to Nick in The Great Gatsby. Whereas Nick’s state of mind is what is stopping him from recounting an accurate story, it is Gulliver’s naivety and gullible nature which makes it difficult to take his stories at face value. He seems to take everything that he hears as truth although sometimes it does not make sense for him to do so.
In ‘A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms’, he discovers a race of people who are very similar to humans in appearance, but their nature is much less civilised. He learns from the ‘Houyhnhnms’ which are in essence, civilised horses that are the dominant race of the land, that these creatures are called ‘Yahoos’ and are terrible creatures that do have any purpose in life. Gulliver quickly gives his respect to the Houyhnhnms and they convince him to adopt their opinion of the Yahoos.
Although they are basically the same race as him, he develops a hate for them, which has a lot to do with the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver bows to the horses and even refers to the leader as his master. He tries to be more like the Houyhnhnms and by the time he gets back to his normal life at home he considers himself as better than humans because of the time he has spent away. “My wife and family received me with great surprise and joy […] I must freely confess, the sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust and contempt; and the more, by reflecting on the near alliance I had to them.” (Page 219) He has an extremely weak mind when it comes to accepting other people’s opinions and seems extremely impressionable.
When Gulliver is recounting the events which happen to him, he is telling the truth as accurately as he can, but there is a feeling that he is unable to effectively interpret what he is seeing and experiencing and therefore the reader gets a blurred version of events. Another problem for him is that in the case of the Houyhnhnms he does not know the language so he attempts to learn it from listening to the horses. He does not know if what he is translating is anything like what is being said, but he expects the reader to believe him. For this reason also, he cannot be seen as completely accurate.
One similarity between The Great Gatsby and Gulliver’s Travels is that the protagonist is also the narrator. They expect the reader to take everything they say as the truth. However, in both these stories the narrators have a flaw. The difference being though, that Nick’s problem is more one of mental anguish. This prevents him from being able to give an accurate account of the events which happened to him. Apart from chapter 7, he seems to be a fairly reliable narrator. In Gulliver’s Travels, the narrator suffers from a flaw in his character which makes it difficult to accept his story as reliable. He is very gullible and he always seems to believe other people’s opinions as the truth. It is possible for the reader to see Gulliver as an open-minded character, but he is in fact very narrow minded, the main example of this being when he hates his wife, mainly because of what he has been told about a certain creature in another land. Both stories have an element of unreliability in them from the narrator’s point of view, but they have different reasons for their inability to accurately give an account of their experiences.
Reference:
“Unreliable Narrator” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 6 June 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator
