I fear we need to all acknowledge that literally every narrator ever is gonna be a bit biased, sometimes limited in knowledge, or swayed in their narration in some ways and that is common sense!!! Omg ! Yall concern me! BUT THERE IS IN FACT A LITERARY DIFFERENCE IN UNRELIABLE NARRATORS AND BIAS ONES

Percy Jackson is not an unreliable narrator bc he is naive in the mythological world. He’s just naive bc he wasn’t raised in the mythological world?? These narrators can be trusted PLEASE.

See everyone in the world is biased because we are all influenced by the world around us- our families, our friend, where we grew up, environment, education, communities. No one can tell their story with completely neutrality- their perspective will seep in.

Then we have normal narrators with bias. Some say it’s subjective narration. Most narrators are biased in one way or another- as we all are! A VERY biased narrator who warps the story can be unreliable but just because a narrator CAN be bias at times doesn’t = unreliable.

This sways the story. He leaves out his affair with his young student until it’s right in front of us. On the other hand we have Amy who begins by telling us a version of events that we later learn is completely fictional. Both established liars. They can’t be trusted.

In Gone Girl we are told a story from the perspective of married couple Amy and Nick Dunne. They are both unreliable but is slightly different ways. SPOILERS!! We begin with Nick who tells you his real account of the days following his wife’s disappearance but he intentionally leaves out parts

Great Examples: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. A Tale Tell Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Or Gone girl by Gillian Flynn my favorite because it features 2 narrators

Unreliable narrators are not credible sources. They leave out parts of the story, they openly lie, their pov is so warped it can’t be trusted, they deceive, they twist the story in a certain light. In Unreliable narrator stories there is usual a moment that signifies the narrator can’t be trusted.

I actually can’t escape it and it irks me. Because people use this frame of thinking to then disregard parts of the story they don’t agree with/ don’t like/ messes with their own headcanons.

it seems every narrator now is considered unreliable these days. “Percy Jackson is an unreliable narrator” “Bella Swan” “Belly from TSITP”

IM CRYING