The Unreliable Narrator in Norman S
ilver’s “Mr. Naidoo’s Hundredth
Birthday”
Abstract
A story is narrated by a narrator, who may act as one of the characters or an observer. Because of his or her role, a narrator plays a great role in shaping the readers’ understanding of the story. As a story-teller, a narrator may be reliable or unreliable. This can only be identified through a critical reading of the story. The ability to read critically is necessary for English teachers so that they can transfer their skill to their students later. Since class discussions on literary works is often focused on understanding the works, this study will examines how the narrator of “Mr. Naidoo’s Hundredth Birthday” perceives the events and other characters to find out if he is reliable or not. An analysis of the story using Rimmon-Kenan’s aspects of unreliable narrator, which are young age, inexperience and personal involvement, proves that the narrator of “Mr. Naidoo’s Bundredth Birthday” is unreliable. His unreliability reflected since he is inexperienced and he is immaturity about changing opinions toward the characters based on single event. The findings are expected to motivate readers to be aware that their understanding of a text is shaped by the narrator and that a story may be different when it is narrated from a different perspective. Therefore, readers will be motivated to be more critical in reading literary works or any texts.
