Age, memory and unreliable narrators

The present article was largely inspired by Emma Healey’s novel Elizabeth is Missing which has recently been introduced into the Perm Seminar Project and also by some other noteworthy, though not recent arrivals. We all can acknowledge that quite a lot of our students, who, being undoubtedly ardent readers of the novels in the project, are often interested in characters whose experiences resonate with their own. Indeed, a character who is not prone to lengthy digressions and brooding and, most importantly, is involved in an action of some sort, becomes the reason our students like a novel. It means that we as teachers often struggle when we have to discuss narrative techniques and structure of the novels which are less straightforward and more challenging both in terms of language and plotting. In this article I will try to explore the topics of age and memory and suggest how these two can be used to create a character whose narrative can be viewed as unreliable.

I will look at Ian McEwan’s Atonement, John Lanchester’ Capital and Michael Frayn’s Spies, Adam Thorpe’s Uherton, Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing, Graham Swift’s Waterland, Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and make some suggestions concerning the problems in question. The choice of novels is quite broad, but there is good rationale behind it. Quite often the level of discussion of the novel in the classroom is predefined by our students’ command of the language. Often this linguistic constraint hinders any sound discussion of the novel as a literary piece, reducing it to a mere collection of words and stylistic devices which, of course, is not the point of studying, let alone reading books. Bearing this in mind I decided to look at a relatively broad spectrum of books some being more demanding than others. This allows us to

discuss narrators with a wide range of students with quite different academic backgrounds.

If we look at the novels in question we can see that they all make good use of the age of the characters. In Atomement Briony’s age contributes both to her misinterpretation of Robbie’s intent and interpretations of the events of the novel as a whole. The fact that the larger part of the novel is a narrative of a 12-year old girl created by her much older version only intensifies this effect. In Lanchester’s Capital Petunia Howe creates the sense of continuity of history in Pepys Road and acts a part of a very intricate combination of herself and her grandson Smitty, adding a new dimension to him as a character. In Spies, very similarly to Atonement, we see young age as an obstacle to the understanding of the motives of the adults. In Ulverton age of the characters does not often affect the narrative explicitly, but contributes greatly to the way the story is told in such chapters as Shutter 1859 or Wing 1953. The list of examples is if not infinite, but definitely excessive. In Shutter we have the memories of somebody who, probably was either too young to have first hand memories of the events that took place in Deposition, or was not around when the events took place. In the description of ‘Plate XXXIV THE PEASANT WOMAN’ we see Hanna Heddin the one who gave the fatal deposition. In the eye of the woman-photographer we see a better Hanna, as, arguably, her old age mitigated her sin, at least for the photographer. However, this is where the unreliability and memory step in. Hanna’s statement remains unknown to the narrator of in Shutter as well as the events that took place in Deposition 1830, which allows the photographer to create a ‘new memory’, which, very much like the notes of Maude from Emma Healey’s novel will be of no practical use for the generation to come.

Thus, we can see that all these novels, though not being exactly of Bildungsroman or memoir type, often rely upon our view and assumptions of the age and things related to it. Consequently, in our study of the novel we can look at instances where ‘age expectations’ were not met and use such inconsistencies, or, rather, oddities as an argument in the discussion. The choice of a relatively young person as a narrator often gives the whole book an interesting dimension and allows both to play with ‘big ideas’ and restructure the space in which the character acts. Looking at Briony Tallis in Atonement we can end up with a very plausible reading in which we can challenge the fascination with young age of the Romantics and a further elaboration of the lost children theme, as for example in his The Child in Time (1987) which shares with Atonement this motif. Young age in Atonement allows the writer to play with perspective and points of view. Briony, as well as the twins is shorter than the other characters and thus not only misreads the events around her, e.g. the famous scene by the fountain, but very literary looks up at the world. This results in a very interesting play on space otherwise not possible, i.e. Briony looks down on her toys which can be a metaphor of her as a creator of fictional worlds. However, when she looks out of the window and sees Robbie and Cecilia, she, though being higher physically remains a child whose perspective is arguably as limited as that of an older person, especially if we look at Briony in the chapter ВТ 1999. The same applies to the hight of the trees or the weeds she smashes the weeds. A similar problem we see in Spies, with the boys misreading the events and actions of the adults.

A slightly different perspective can be traced in A Curious Incident. This novel can be very conveniently labeled as coming of age novel. Quite naturally, mental disability is the pivot around which the narrative revolves. Still, the age contributes to Christopher’s image, especially in his escape to London where his age contributes to the seriousness of the situation as much as his mental state.

Memory is often one of those aspects which we have to deal with while studying novel, as the characters often rely on their memories when deciding which path to take. Quite often the novel is based on how the character remembers their early years, as in Waterland, Spies, and Elizabeth is Missing. It does not mean that these moves can be reduced to some childhood memories. Still, in these novels age and memory create a peculiar blend which gives these novels an interesting dimension. In Waterland Tom Crick often finds himself stuck between his ‘here and now’ of adulthood and his childhood memories. Tom in this respect can be contrasted with his brother Dick who, being technically and biologically older is more child-like in his attitudes then Tom in his teenage years. Here again we see how Swift plays with the Romantic idea of being in the state of nature. In case of Tom Crick we have a very interesting use of age and memory, as Tom’s age is as ambivalent as the environment he lives in, which is nether water, nor soil. Tom in his teenage years is neither an adult, nor an adolescent as he, symbolically goes through the rites of passage, i.e. sex, but does not become a father which means that he does not leave the timeframe of his generation. This state of being ‘out of time’ results in his attitude to history and consequently the structure of the narrative which sways from past to present and back Being out of time, Tom, very much like the protagonist of the The Child in Time moves between his past, the present of the classroom and the Grand History relatively freely.

We have rather different aspects of memory in Elizabeth is Missing and Ulverton where written record is often put to a test. In case of the former we have a peculiar paradox concerning age and memory. As Maud struggles to remember the facts of here present, especially what concerns her friend Elizabeth. However, the notes she keeps to remember the things are of little help since she cannot tie them to a precise moment in time. Even the notes about notes do not help as their frame of reference is invalided. At the very same time the objects like the tiny mirror, objects which are normally less relevant than serious record. We see a similar narrative move in Ulverton, first in the Shutter 1859 and then in Wing 1953 where photography and time capsule become irrelevant and even misleading. The credibility of material, written recored is crucial, as its value, especially if this record was created by somebody, whose position in terms of memory and age is highly vulnerable. In Haddon’s novel the whole narrative is, in terms of Early Modern travel writing, ‘a truthful and fair account’. Paradoxically the age and ‘memory capacity’ simultaneously contribute to our view of the narrative. On the one hand a story told by a child is likely to lack in plausibility, as for example the investigation narrative of Keith in Spies, or Briony’s statement to the police in 1936. On the other hand, Christopher in

Haddon’s novel possesses the gift of exceptional memory and is thus almost immune to the errors of observation that we see in Atonement, Spies, or Ulverton. Still, exceptional memory does not prevent him from being an unreliable narrator, as it does not presuppose an exceptional evaluation skill. Thus, the age nullifies memory and results in either a story in which the character fails to act as they should because he lacks in emotional intellect, as in Curious Incident, or invents the reality being led by emotion which they do in Atonement.

These small instances show that age and memory are not only linked together, but can also act as a good starting point for the discussion of the novel or, alternatively give this discussion a new dimension, especially when it comes to narrators.

Whenever we want to look at the tone or voice we have to understand what sort of narrator we have. As how much does this narrator understand what is going on around them. In the case of Elizabeth is Missing we have a narrator who has a very limited comprehension of the world around her and is viewed by other characters as unreliable in all sorts of ways. She forgets what she had bought or that she had already inquired about her friend Elizabeth at the police station. Thus, it is not simply her limited perspective, but also her age and apparent ‘lack’ of memory that contributes to her unreliability. At the very same time her memories of the post-war period seem to be unaffected by dementia, which makes it even more bizarre and puzzling, thus making us suspicious of the validity of those memories. Similarly, in Atonement Briony’s attempt to tell the story of Robbie and Cecilia is undermined by the lack of actual memory of the events of 1936 and 1940. We have a seemingly reliable Briony in ВТ 1999 which is set in the ‘present’ where she confesses that at least one part of her tour de force is fully invented. Thus we have unreliability driven by either young age and possible jealousy driven by memory, and old age and lack of memory driven by dementia. In the similar scenario of Elizabeth is Missing we see our unreliable narrators struggling to deal with age and memory and trying to tell the reader something they themselves cannot fully comprehend.