I have seen one too many posts calling Katniss an unreliable narrator so I think we need to re-learn what an unreliable narrator is in storytelling.
So what is the definition of an unreliable narrator?
That is a narrator that actively lies to the audience, or, whose credibility has been compromised. That usually means twisting the truth so it fits their narrative via exaggeration, omission, insanity and more.
This narrative style while mainly used in first-person storytelling has been debated to exist in second and third person too.
Some examples: Lolita, American Psycho, Penance, Gone Girl, Bunny
Is Katniss an unreliable narrator?
The short answer is no. Not really. Her narration style isn't to actively hide things from the reader. She doesn't lie, she doesn't exaggerate and she doesn't omit the truth from us.
Katniss tells us what happens around her when it happens around her. In fact, we are in her head constantly.
What Katniss is, is a biased narrator.
What is a biased narrator?
A biased narrator is one whose personal feelings, emotions, beliefs or limited perspective affects their account of the events.
Every. single. narrator is a biased one.
In literature, an unbiased narrator is SO extremely rare that people still debate if that even exists. Every story is funneled through from someone's perspective, someone's specific experience.
Would The Hunger Games be the same from Effie's POV?
Would it be the same from Finnick's? Plutarch's? Gale's?
No! Of course not. All these people viewed events differently, experienced things differently and experienced different things.
But Katniss doesn't tell us everything!
Katniss tells us everything she experiences through the lens in which she experiences it. Katniss is a traumatized character that people omit things from all the time.
She is not told about Peeta's plan to confess his feelings. She is not told about the plan in the Quell. She is not told about almost every single aspect of the rebellion plan. AND SO MUCH MORE.
Katniss is lied to, and used all the time. And that's what we get too - we are experiencing it with her. We are not being actively lied to by her.
Narration doesn't come to you served in a platter all ready and prepared for you to consume. You can't read Lolita and tell me how Humber Humber was the good guy, but he actively tries to get you to believe him he is. Just because Katniss is a complex character and not the know-it-all hero of the story, that does not make her unreliable. You can and should rely on her perspective. There is a reason it's limited.
What does this say about the story?
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