Unreliability

       An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised.  In both The Yellow Wallpaper and The Ones Who Walk Away From The Omelas, an unreliable narrator is seen.  Having this kind of a narrator forces the reader to draw conclusions about the story on their own, without actually flat out telling them the story details.  

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the story is told in third person.  This is helpful in this story because if we did not have access to the woman’s thoughts, the story would not have included the wallpaper and what she thought was behind it.  Reality vs. narrator’s perception was a major factor in the unreliable narrator of this story.  At sometimes it was hard to tell which characters were actually real.  The narrator changes her mind about many different things in the story, which is hard to trust and to follow, making her unreliable.  You can see this with John’s character.  Somedays John is talking about how the woman is progressing and improving, and then next day he is saying that he may have to send her away and that she may not recover.  Her opinions on many things change rapidly, back and forth.  She likes one thing, then hates it and later likes it again.  This rapid change can be seen with these quotes about John...“It is hard to talk with john about my case, because he is so wise and because he loves me so.” “The fact is, I am getting a little afraid of John.” “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes.”  I think that it can be concluded that the narrators mental health can be the reason for her unreliability.  As a reader it is hard to understand if the woman in the wallpaper is real because she does have a mental heath issue that can make her visions unclear.  Overall, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is deemed unreliable.   

The narrator of The One’s Who Walk Away From The Omelas is also unreliable.  This story is told in second person.  This is unlike many stories because most are told in first and third.  Second person allows for more control over the reader’s perceptions.  The narrator of this story has an extremely hard time to narrate.  She never knows how to fully explain why the town is so perfect, before the child in the basement is exposed.  The narrator talks about the town as if she herself is uncertain of why everything is so perfect and always happy.  She says at one point, “but I wish I could describe it better. I wish I could convince you. Omelas sounds in my words like a city in a fairy tale, long ago and far away, once upon a time.”  This quote shows how the narrator of the story is trying extremely hard to describe what is going on in the town, but simply can not put it into words.  The only thing that the narrator is certain about and talks about, is the child that is locked away in the basement and that is where the sole happiness and perfection of the town comes from. 

What do you think?