NARRATION & RELIABILITY
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW (NARRATION)
First person point of view is a point of view in which an "I" or
"we" serves as the narrator of a piece of fiction. The narrator
may be a minor character, observing the action, as the
character Nick does in The Great Gatsby, or the main
protagonist of the story, such as Holden Caulfield in The Catcher
in the Rye. In addition, a first-person narrator may be reliable or
unreliable.
While first person point of view can allow a reader to feel very
close to a specific character's point of view, it also limits the
reader to that one perspective. The reader can only know what
this character knows.
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR
In fiction, as in life, the unreliable narrator is a narrator who
can't be trusted. Either from ignorance or self-interest, this
narrator speaks with a bias, makes mistakes, or even lies. Part
of the pleasure and challenge of these first-person stories is
working out the truth, and understanding why the narrator is
not straightforward. It's also one tool an author uses to create
an aura of authenticity in his or her work.