The Too Unreliable Narrator (was: What really happened on the tower)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156002

Carol earlier:
> > You're misunderstanding the concept. It isn't Harry who's fooled,
at least not in this case (though he's certainly mistaken in the case
of Draco listening behind the shelves in the library). It's the reader
who's left up in the air. <snip>
> > 

wynnleaf responded:
> 
> Another important thing to keep in mind is that often the author is
> *not* incorporating these bits (like Tonks and Harry discussing the
> words shouted), in order to leave clues so the reader can suspect
> something.  The purpose is so that when the truth comes out in the
> end, the reader can't feel that it came totally out of the blue.  The
> reader has to be able to re-read and think "oh yeah, I see it there,
> and there, and there."  Like I said in another post, the narrator is
> not directly lying to the reader.  The author must make sure that a
> re-read makes sense with the final revelations.  <snip>
> 
> It may be that the petrificus totalus example doesn't turn out to be
> one of these instances.  But if it *does,* then we'll be able to
> re-read and think, "oh yeah, I see that now."
> 
Carol earlier:
> > The unreliable narrator is not an invention of Snape fans. 
> 
> wynnleaf:
> That's right.  Hopefully the essay I posted on "A 'Seeming' Reality,"
> (about Austen's books) makes it clear that we're talking about a
> commonly used device in writing.

Carol adds:
For the record, the term "unreliable narrator" was invented by the
rhetorician Wayne Booth and was first used in his "Rhetoric of
Fiction" (1961). It is emphatically *not* an invention of Harry Potter
fans but an established term used by respected literary critics. The
device allows the reader to draw conclusions that are different from
those of the narrator (or the pov character)--and not only with regard
to the plot (elements of a mystery) but with regard to character
development. What's important here (IMO) is how much Harry understands
and doesn't understand about the other characters and their
motivations and loyalties and about the WW itself. The full extent of
the narrator's reliability or unreliability and the reasons for it
will only be clear after we've read the seventh book and then reread
all the others in its light. Even then, I doubt that every reader will
arrive at the same conclusions. The text will still be subject to
interpretation because the narrator is not giving us the straight-out
objective facts but bits and pieces of information usually but not
always filtered through Harry's point of view.

Carol, whose new computer is finally set up just the way she wants it
but still has to relocate about a hundred bookmarks