Analysis Of Unreliable Narrative Structure In Lost Hearts

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The literary theory of deconstruction, derived from the the poststructuralist movement, asserted that structuralist theory that language shapes our world consequently meant that “we enter a universe of radical uncertainty, since we can have no access to a landmark”Barry. If language had no shape, there is no need for a reliable narrator to tell a story and why an unreliable narrator cannot. The unreliable narrative structure, is simply a fixed piece of the story, there are themes, motifs and allegories involved in the piece as well. Jean Boulliard, a literary critic theorized that our “reality was increasingly being replaced by sign systems that recodified and replaced the real”R&R(365), through this thought process an unreliable narrative …show more content…

The audience can identify with Stephen because his ignorance is a result of his naivety. The reader continues the story attempting to find greater meaning to the story, the narrative technique must connect on an empirical level in order to be recognized by the readers. Consequently the narrative technique utilizes characteristics that force the reader to initially recognize the narrator’s unreliability, however because the characteristics are forced and not self imposed, the reader’s a priori consciousness distrusts this initial forced distrust and attempts to identify further with the character. The use of characteristics such as ignorant, young and naive can help to identify the author 's motives as well as minimize the effort needed to create an unreliable narrator, because the feelings for these characteristics have already …show more content…

Aristotle identified ‘action’ and ‘character’ as the essential elements to the story and the key elements to a plot, that a character must possess a ‘fault’, realize his fault and have a reversal of fortune. These guidelines to a story are found throughout many narratives; the aristotelian ideals predicated the theory that narratives also had a structural base, but are subject to the author for other portions. Narratives, therefore were reexamined, identified and categorized. Vladimir Pomp asserts that storytelling “is not the imparting, but the withholding of information”Barry, a ghost story for example often has characters who know more than they are telling and withholding key information with the purpose of progressing the story. Propp stated that stories are all connected through a variety of different building blocks which can be mixed and matched into various categories and genre. The critic however disregarded the new cultural concepts utilized to explain the plot and instead regarded the textual representation of the text. Consequently narratives received a higher standing and craved greater clarity.The unreliable narrative is a necessary and important literary tool, utilized as an impartial commentary to discuss philosophical and moral dilemmas. Narratology defined as “the study of how narratives make manning, and what the basic mechanism and procedures, it

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