Types of Unreliable Narrators

• What is an unsophisticated narrator?

  An unsophisticated narrator is typically a child or someone with limited understanding, requiring the reader to interpret deeper meanings that the narrator misses.
• How is Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird an example of an unsophisticated narrator?

  Scout, a young girl, doesn’t fully understand the racial tensions in her community, and readers must infer the deeper implications of events she describes, like the attempted lynching.
• What is a narrator lacking sanity?

  A narrator lacking sanity may describe events that are either real or imagined, leaving readers unsure of what actually happens.
• How does The Black Cat demonstrate a narrator lacking sanity?

  In The Black Cat, the narrator describes a growing mark on the cat’s chest, but it’s unclear if the change is real or just in the narrator's disturbed mind.
• What is dramatic irony in the context of an unreliable narrator?

  Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows more than the characters, creating an ironic effect as the narrator’s description of events contrasts with what is really happening.