The Unreliable Narrator
Molloy constantly
contradicts himself when describing the setting of “Molloy” to the reader,
making him an unreliable narrator.
First, Molloy depicts
two people who remain nameless, but are called A and C, as identical. “They
looked alike, but no more than others do” (5). In one sentence, Molloy is able
to shift the reader’s perspective, a sentence with nine words. So, apparently A
and C resemble each other, “but no more than others do.” Everyone looks
slightly different from one another, but Molloy is not implying this. He outright
states that they look alike, just like everyone else does. Well, I am a
brunette and my brother is a blonde; we may share common features but we look
completely different. Therefore, A and C do not look alike even though Molloy
claims that they do.
By God, they're identical! (or are they?)
Then Molloy proceeds to
describe a man and his dog. “Perhaps he had come from afar, from the other end
of the island even, and was approaching the town for the first time or returning
to it after a long absence. A little dog followed him, a Pomeranian I think,
but I don’t think so. I wasn’t sure at the time and I’m still not sure, though I’ve
hardly thought about it” (7). Molloy tells a story of an event he supposedly
witnessed, but he cannot even remember large details about the only two objects
his eyes were watching. He does not know the man’s intentions, which is
slightly understandable, but he also does not know the breed of dog, which is
ridiculous.
Just a gentle man and his pomeranian?
Molloy later admits
that the details of these stories are blurry to him. “And I am perhaps
confusing several different occasions, and different times, deep down, and deep
down is my dwelling, oh not deepest down, somewhere between the mud and scum”
(10). In this quote, Molloy confesses that he is an unreliable narrator
immediately, then contradicts himself one last time.
Although, Molloy will
continue to disappoint and confuse the reader by remaining an unreliable
narrator throughout the entire story. “I can’t believe it. No, I will not lie, I
can easily conceive it” (10).
I just can't believe it!
I can understand your motivation to describe Molloy as an unreliable narrator, but I do not think that the term applies. To be an unreliable narrator, the reader must be reliant on the narrator to develop the facts of a given event. There is no event in Molloy, and the only thing we rely on him for is to keep spinning this contradictory, free associational web of a memoir - which he does just fine. He is unreliable in presenting to the reader a cohesive and developed plot, but should we chastise him for that which he did not attempt? If this even is an attempt at... anything... it is an invitation into the dilapidated and fragmental mind of a very peculiar character, which seems to have been done with extreme authenticity. Now, if Molloy were given an artistic license to recreate the story of the Iliad from his perspective... I might be less inclined to believe in his reliability.
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