Why does Bambara tell the story through an unreliable narrator?
An unreliable narrator disrupts the trust relationship between the reader and the text. The reader cannot fully trust the events in the text because they are presented to the reader through the perception of a flawed, fallible narrator. Think Huck Finn, Catcher in the Rye, etc. Why would Bambara use this literary device for this story?
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Do the Right Thing: Reading and Writing about Ethics & Morality
In this class, we will read works that pose difficult moral questions and don't always offer simple answers. We will explore individual morality, societal morality, and the relationship between them both as we read stroies, plays, and poems that challenge and complicate the reader's understanding of right and wrong.
4 comments:
I just commented on this entry, but something went wrong and my comment was lost =( I'll try to recollect my thoughts...
I did not find that the narrator of the story was unreliable. Maybe I am missing something, but to me the narrator was a poor young girl living in an urban environment, and that is a character that I think we have all encountered or at least heard about. Maybe she would be unreliable if she had said that she bought the sailboat or something of that nature. Going to that store seemed like a real experience. In fact, maybe it was an overdose of reality, too harsh for these children. I was not happy that these children went to that store. It must have felt like they were caged birds. They may have said "white folks crazy" but I think they really meant that it is sad that they can't have that sailboat because buying it would be crazy considering their circumstances. In their tones I could sense pure defeat.
Maybe Sylvia was kidding herself when she said she was bored at the store, or when she was badmouthing Miss Moore, but don't we hear kids say such things all the time? It is up to us to interpret the underlying meaning behind these dismissive words. Maybe Sylvia really liked Miss Moore. If not, she'll probably think fondly of her later on in life.
I believe she uses the character of Sylvia as the unreliable narrator as she most of all needed to learn "The Lesson". The story from her point of view is in someway more interesting as the others are not as resistant to learning or expressing their views about being at the store "Parents silly to buy something like that just to get all broke up," (Bambara 3). Instead all Sylvia wanted to know is "Watcha being us here for, Miss Moore?" (Bambara 4). Or even when she seems to have interest it is with distaste: "What I want to know is, I says to Miss Moore though I never talk to her, I wouldn't give the bitch that satisfaction, is how much a real boat costs?" (Bambara 4). This sassy behavior of Sylvia is what nevertheless adds volumes to "The lesson" to be learned.
Natalie D.
It seems that every first person narrator could be dubbed unreliable as everything gets filtered through their eyes and is open to interpretation.
Children in general are unreliable; they don't have enough life experience to pick up on unspoken cues or understand life lessons.
Sylvia (like Tralala) is a product of her environment and reacts to new situations with feigned disinterest and anger. This reaction is understandable as it appears that many of the adults in her life (with the exception of Ms. Moore) are not present. In an effort to cope with this, she acts aloof as she cannot articulate what she is feeling.
It is up to the reader to see beyond Sylvia's limited scope and realize that she is overwhelmed and confused and reacting the only way she knows how.
I would have to agree with Fatin. When reading the story I did not find Slyvia to be an unreliable narrator. In fact I found her to more real and true to herself than the other characters.
Slyvia and her friends are children living in poverty. So for someone like Miss Moore to come into their lives and attempt to make them see that it is more to life than the way they currently live it is only natural that a child would be confuse and act resentful to the ideas Miss Moore is trying to thrust upon them. Also I think that the realization or lesson Sugar gains after their visit to the toy store came across as very phony. I find it hard to believe that a child her age could have come to such an ingenious realization given the circumstances in which such a lesson was taught and also it seemed as though she was the only one who gained such knowledge from the lesson.
Nickeitta
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