Comparing Narrator Reliability in 'Mockingbird' & 'Wallflower'

This essay delves into the concept of narrator reliability, comparing Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Stephen Chbosky's 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. It argues that Scout, the narrator in 'To Kill a Mockingbird', is a reliable narrator due to her straightforward and credible recounting of childhood events, despite potential inaccuracies stemming from a child's perspective. Conversely, Charlie, the narrator in 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower', is presented as an unreliable narrator due to his shyness, social difficulties, and the blunt honesty conveyed through letters, which sometimes distorts the narrative. The essay concludes that while Scout's narration provides a stable and trustworthy account, Charlie's narration is colored by his personal struggles and unfiltered perspective, impacting the overall reliability of the story.

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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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

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(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

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narrator. Some critics have also argued several times that the vocabulary used by Scout is
sometimes very sophisticated and it is adult at the same time as well. The viewpoints of an adult
and a child clashes during this time when she goes on to narrate the several events of her past
when she has already grown up an as an adult. It is also essential to note that the various
implications of the narration regarding the decision of Heck Tate to give protection to Boo
(Hogan: 237).
There are several advantages and disadvantages of using a child narrator to develop the
overall plot of the novel indeed. However, the author has been successful in overcoming the
problems of the narration of the events of the past. The several games of the past as narrated by
the Scout could be interpreted rightly from the viewpoint of the readers as well.
The second book should be taken in consideration in this section of the essay. The second
book is The Perks of being a Wallflower (Chbosky: 245). The author of the book is Stephen
Chbosky. The narrator of this novel is a sincere person, and this has impacted the overall growth
of the novel as well. In this context, it must be mentioned that the narrator of the story should
have all the dominance in his or her hands. However, the protagonist of the play is Charlie who
is a shy teenager. The critics are of the opinion that this shyness of the narrator Charlie will be a
notable fact for the unreliability.
One of the main problems that this Charlie has is to socialise as he cannot communicate
with the other people within the society. This novel is mainly an epistolary novel that means the
development of the plot goes through the letters. One crucial aspect in the elements of the fiction
is regarded as the fact that the use of a drug and mental illness has pervaded in the entire novel
indeed (Chbosky: 245). There are some quotes that can be added from the book that could be

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added to support the various arguments. Some of these quotes said by Charlie are “So, this is my
life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how
that could be.” Another quotation on changing course of life is “Things change. And friends
leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.” The third quotation that could be attributed to this paper is
“I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each
other.”.
The fact of negation can be interpreted in this context is the fact that the honesty of the
narrator has conceived the unreliability of the unreliable narrator in this section. The bluntness of
the narrator in this novel has been one concern regarding the proper growth of the book. His
personality is also hampered by this shade of his character as well. The thing that has made him
struggle to tell the tale of the story is the honesty in his role (Chbosky: 245). This is the reason as
to why he has been acknowledged as an unreliable narrator. In the letters of the novel, it has been
found that Charlie had several problems in adjusting to his school because of his blunt honesty
(Hogan: 237).
The contents of the letter are not filtered properly, and this has been the basis for his
morality. However, the establishment of authority on the plot has failed to somewhat degree as
well. He has made some confident decisions in relating the crucial information to the readers and
friends of his (Lamarque: 100). The mistruths can be found during some portions of the tale
regarding the adjustment troubles of Charlie. Thus he has been seen as an unreliable narrator.
Conclusion
As per the above discussion, it can be concluded that both the books have been discussed
and compared. It can be said that the first book To Kill a Mockingbird has been an essential text

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that shows the reliability of the narrator. On the other hand, the narrator of the novel The Perks of
being a Wallflower is not properly reliable indeed. This is why the differences have been figured
out in the viewpoint of the narrator on the ways he or she would be able to see the different
things. The honesty of the child narrator Charlie and the simple narration of the tale by Scout
have been entirely different in their portrayal.

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References
Chbosky, Stephen. The perks of being a wallflower. Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Hogan, Patrick Colm. Narrative Discourse: Authors and Narrators in Literature, Film and Art.
The Ohio State University Press, 2013.
Kohn, Rob. "Giving voice to uncertainty." Zeitschrift für interkulturelle Germanistik 3.2 (2012):
33-48.
Lamarque, Peter. "Belief, Thought, and Literature." Art and Belief (2017): 100.
Lee, Harper. "To kill a mockingbird." Litigation (1990): 68-58.
Sternberg, Meir, and Tamar Yacobi. "(Un) Reliability in Narrative Discourse: A Comprehensive
Overview." Poetics Today 36.4 (2015): 327-498.

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References