Literary terms · AP English Literature, AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator: A narrator whose account cannot be fully trusted because of bias, limited knowledge, self-deception or dishonesty.
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What it means
An unreliable narrator tells the story in a way the reader learns to question. The narrator may misunderstand events, hide information, justify themselves, or contradict details the reader can see. The gap between what the narrator says and what the reader infers creates irony.
Unreliability is usually signaled by inconsistencies, defensive insistence, or details that point to a different interpretation.
Example
A narrator repeatedly assures the reader that he was never angry with his business partner, while describing slamming doors and unsent letters full of accusations.
On the exam
Explaining how a passage signals unreliability is strong evidence of close reading and complexity in an AP Lit prose essay.