Taking a character's word for it (Was: Weapons of Mass Destruction)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97891

I (Carol) wrote:
> Never trust anything any character says, whether that character is
> Sirius or Mr. Weasley or Voldemort. Even Hermione can be wrong if
> she's not spouting facts she's read in books, and Dumbledore, wise
> mentor or not, deals in half truths and partial explanations as a
> matter of course. And, of course, we know not to trust Harry's
> perspective. The only one who knows less than he does about the WW
> (not counting the Dursleys) is the reader.

Carol again:
On second thought, it would be more accurate to say that we should
take whatever any reader says with a grain of salt. What do we know
about that person's general reliability? What is his or her emotional
state? How much would he or she be likely to know about this topic?
Might the character be lying or guessing or simply mistaken? Might he
or she have some reason for slightly distorting the truth, or for
telling only part of it, both of which Sirius did in the "weapon" example?

Obviously, if we don't believe anybody, including our unreliable
narrator, we won't have any canon to support our theories and anything
or nothing goes. We might as well call in the deconstructionsists. But
I do think we need to weigh each piece of evidence. Just because it's
in this book or any other doesn't mean it's true--a lesson I hope our
Hermione will learn in Book 6 or 7.

Carol