Narrator Reliability in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
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Author Note

1ENGLISH LITERATURE
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to assess the issues of the narrator reliability of the chosen
novels and its impact on the readers. The two books that have been chosen in this paper are the
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
It is very interesting to assess the reliability of the narrators since the narrators would have to
showcase the progress of the plot and the overall success of the novel as well. The different tools
and techniques are very useful to measure what impact the narrators do have on the overall
novel. This actually matters very much and is very useful for the development of the plot indeed.
The reliability of the narrators
To begin this section of the essay, it must be clarified that the reliable narrator is the
person who can be deemed as a creative and credible person for detailing the story with the vivid
descriptions and the pictures and the other relevant resources. On the other hand it can be said
that the reliability of the authors will surely depend on the ways how he or she can become the
implied author. The narrator in the To Kill a Mockingbird is Scout (Lee: 68). Though Scout has
been narrating the several events of the novel as an adult, it must be remembered that she is only
describing the events of her childhood. The critics have argued in favor of labeling Scout as a
reliable narrator.
The childhood events of the narrator are mainly the basis for the development of the plot
(Kohn: 33). However, in this context, it must be said that the viewpoint of the children is always
different from that of the adults. The children do not see the things in a complicated manner
since their minds are very simple than the adults. The children become very emotional when they
go on to reminisce the different things with their parents or close relatives. According to Lee

2ENGLISH LITERATURE
(68), why Scout has been watching the stuff in that manner as well. Scout had many memories
when she was about to think of the past events in her life.
The narrator named Scout is very much reliable when she tells the story of the novel.
Some of the perspectives of her narration might have been inaccurate in some ways, but this kind
of storytelling has changed some of the essential facts of the past events indeed (Sternberg and
Tamar: 327). These narrations have been incomplete in some manners as well. She had been
expressing her personal experiences. Some critics are of the opinion that the reliability of Scout
has been the principal reason for establishing her viewpoints in the novel extensively.
The emotions and the ideas in the description of the novel have always remained
unchanged. The adventures of Scout might have been redesigned as she is grown up to be an
adult in future times. The main narration in the novel is regarding the events of the past how
Scout represents it, and the extension of historical details can also be seen from the adulthood
experiences of the person as well (Kohn: 33). There are some quotations that can be attributed to
this paper are “I think there is only kind of folks. Folks.” This speech is given b the protagonist
of the story Scout Finch. Scout can be quoted again to understand her acknowledgement for Boo
when she says “Boo was her neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a
pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives.”Another quote where racism has been exposed in the
novel is “You aren’t really a nigger-lover, then, are you..?”.
The differences between the younger Scout and older Scout could be understood in the
best ways when it is suggested that the memories and past events of the younger Scout could
have been left out in the narration of the novel (Sternberg and Tamar: 327). The reflection on the
events of the later years could be taken as critical factors for judging the reliability of the