Walton's Unreliable Narrator

Walton’s character displays the qualities of an unreliable narrator. In literature, an unreliable narrator is generally defined as a first person narrator with a compromised point of view. For example, in Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,” the narrator is in a mental hospital which is a cause for suspicion of the veracity of events in the novel. Another more relevant example of an unreliable narrator is the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado.” The character Montresor harbors an intense hatred for Fortunato. All of Montresor's decisions and observations are tainted by his desire for revenge based on past, unexplained events. Even events in Montresor’s “present” narration are described briefly and with prejudice …show more content…
Similar prejudice is shown in Walton’s character, but rather than a prejudice against Victor, Walton harbors a bias in favor of him. Walton’s first blatant instance of prejudice in Letter 4 occurs when he is describing the events which led up to Victor being offered refuge on his boat. “A being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge and guided the dogs” (Shelley 18). Walton’s recounting of events shows prejudice because when Walton saw the first man riding a sled and guiding dogs he refuses to actually state that this being, is a human being; despite there being no other options as only human beings have the ability to acquire a sledge, gather dogs, then tie the dogs up and guide them. This prejudice appears to have formed against the first sledge driver for the sole fact that the driver is of “gigantic stature”. Walton gives no other defining feature of this sledge driver and even states that the rider is in the shape of a man. Therefore, there appears to be no other purpose in being vague and saying the figure was “man-shaped,” rather than plainly stating it was a man, other than to express an

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