Which signals that a narrator might be unreliable?

• A. Omission of information and explicit bias or limited perspective.
• B. The narrator's age determines reliability.
• C. The number of paragraphs decides reliability.
• D. Reliability is not a concept in narrative prose.

Answer: (A)

Judging a narrator’s reliability comes from how their account is shaped by what they reveal, hide, or interpret. The strongest signals are omission of information and explicit bias or a limited perspective. When a narrator withholds details or describes events through a narrowly filtered view, we can’t take every claim at face value; gaps invite questions and doubt about what else isn’t being said. Similarly, clear bias shows the narrator is coloring the story to fit their own views or agenda, which distorts the truth and makes their narration less trustworthy.

Age or the length of the text don’t determine trustworthiness, and reliability remains a meaningful idea in fiction because it’s about perspective, consistency, and what the narrator chooses to disclose or obscure.