Evaluate and Re-evaluate the narrator’s reliability at various points in the novel.
Use the following questions as a guide:
Does the narrator appear too self-interested?
Is the narrator sufficiently knowledgeable?
Is the narrator sufficiently experienced?
Is the narrator sufficiently moral?
Is the narrator sufficiently (or too) emotional?
Are the narrator’s actions too inconsistent with her words?
Also:
Identify any examples of situations in the novel that you felt might have occurred differently than the narrator recalled.
Create a meaning or outcome of the situation that you find to be more realistic or believable based on your understanding of the characters in the novel.
Why do you think your interpretation of the situation is different from the narrator’s?
Exercise adapted from:
Smith, Michael W. Theory and Research into Practice: Understanding Unreliable
Narrators. NCTE, 1991, p16.