Invisibility Week Day Two: Unreliable Narrators

“Today I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra. Before that I was three, then two, then one, then zero. “Was I minus numbers?” “Hmm?” Ma does a big stretch. “Up in Heaven. Was I minus one, minus two, minus three — ?” “Nah, the numbers didn’t start till you zoomed down.” “Through Skylight. You were all sad till I happened in your tummy.” “You said it.” Ma leans out of Bed to switch on Lamp, he makes everything light up whoosh .” – Room by Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue’s novel, Room, is told by a five-year-old narrator/protagonist who lives in a room. Jack has never been outside. He doesn’t even know what “outside” even means. His observations of his mother tell us she was abducted and impregnated by her kidnapper, but she has magically managed to keep her son’s existence free of any awareness of darkness. To Jack, Room is all there is, and it’s a happy and wonderful life.

Jack is the epitome of an unreliable narrator. He cannot process information as an adult might. He cannot even process the idea of a world beyond the room since that’s all he’s ever known. Emma Donaghue uses his ignorance to speak to the beauty of motherhood. Through Jack’s happiness, we learn about the impossible strength of a victim and her love for her son.

Donoghue might have told the tale more easily by choosing the mother as the protagonist of her story. Mother knows, after all, about the world beyond Room. She knows about rape and abduction, and she knows what she has lost. This might have made for a bestseller, but it would not have made for a masterpiece. And Room is exactly that: A masterpiece.

The protagonist is the writer’s vehicle for carrying the story, so it’s tempting to create one who serves those goals best.

The writer’s most convenient protagonist tells the truth at all times. They know everything, even the future. They are reliable and trustworthy. The reader never needs to doubt whether the protagonist is misconstruing, misremembering, or outright lying. He is, after all, primarily a storytelling vehicle, not a character. Too many writers use their protagonists as a convenience. Protagonists and narrators can be more, so they should be more.

Everyone misremembers and misconstrues sometimes. Everyone is imperfect, so if your protagonist is 100% trustworthy 100% of the time, they will come across as inauthentic. The reader will be aware at all times that there’s a writer telling this story. This is not a real world. It’s just fiction.

And no reader of fiction wants to be continuously reminded there’s a writer in the mix. Writers should be invisible, and when you read Room, Jack is simply too authentic and compelling to remind you that you’re in your own room reading a book.

Write a short story of 300 to 500 words with an unreliable narrator.