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Theory of Mind and the Unreliable Narrator



Author(s)

LIU Xiao-yan

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DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2014.05.010

Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

Theory of Mind was used in the analysis of characters’ mind, which provides a new perspective to study the unreliable narrator. This paper takes for its object of analysis the interrelationship between the narrator’s mind and the interwoven network of the minds in the unreliable narration. The main articulations of this study are intended to reflect some of the theoretical concerns central to the unreliable narrator from the aspects of the minds of author, characters, and readers to present a full examination of cognitive mechanical formation of unreliable narration, the reality of the unreliable text world and its cognitive effort for the readers. Findings suggest that the unreliable narrator is the ones the author (implied author) chooses to represent the real cognitive world of real life and the unreliable narration question and probe the limits of human minds and human expectations, and force the reader to rethink and reconsider reactions that seem “natural”.

Theory of Mind, the unreliable narrator, the minds of unreliable narration