Felt dumb arguing about unreliable narrators until a 7th grader changed my mind

I was on a rant last week in my book club about how The Catcher in the Rye is overrated because Holden is just whiny and not a real unreliable narrator. My friend's kid, this quiet girl named Maya who's in 7th grade, said 'but isn't the whole point that he doesn't know he's unreliable?' She pointed out that Holden never admits he's lying, he just twists stuff to make himself look better. That hit me different because I'd been treating unreliable narrators like they're all trying to trick you on purpose. But Maya made me realize the good ones don't even know they're doing it. Has anyone else had a kid or teenager totally reframe a book debate for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_fisher19d agoTop Commenter

Man I gotta push back on that a bit. If Holden was fully aware of what he's doing the whole time, the ending where he talks about missing everyone wouldn't hit as hard because he'd just be a guy performing sadness instead of genuinely trapped in his own head. That moment where he can't explain why he likes the ducks so much feels like a kid who literally doesn't get why he's upset, not someone crafting a story.

the_joseph19d ago

Respectfully disagree a bit here. I think Holden knows exactly what he's doing half the time, like when he makes up stories about his brother's car or the whole thing with the ducks. For me the power of that book is watching him twist reality on purpose to avoid facing his own pain, not that he's clueless about it. Maya makes a good point about narrators who don't realize they're lying, but Holden strikes me as someone who lies to himself as a coping mechanism rather than someone who genuinely can't tell truth from fiction.