Have You Ever Read "The Cask Of Amontillado?"

You should. It's a good story. But that's not the point. The point is that too often in literature we've been taught to trust the narrator. Whoever is telling the story has to be trustworthy, right? I mean, why else would they let the story be told? Nobody wants to read a story just to find out the narrator has fooled them. The Cask of Amontillado teaches us otherwise. In this story we discover that narrators are allowed to be just as crazy as the rest of us. It really makes reading a lot more exciting when you know not to believe everything you read. Sometimes I feel like I'm narrating my life. I do talk to myself a lot, but that's not quite what I mean. I mean really narrating... "Caleb walked to class today and discovered a note on the door alerting him that class had been cancelled. He leapt for joy and promptly called his girlfriend Beyonce to tell her the good news. They were so excited they decided to take an impromptu trip to New Zealand.....". So, yeah. I hope at this point you realize that is not an accurate description of my everyday activities. In actuality, I only get to see Beyonce on the weekends. But anyway, the point is that as I narrate my life to myself and others, I will occasionally get a glimpse from the outside looking in. It can be pretty scary. I tell of my weekend plans and past plans and future plans and plans to make plans, and things along those lines. I tell my thoughts, feelings, actions, ideas. On those rare occasions that I somehow slip into third person mode, I never know if I trust the narrator. I keep listening and think, "I can just tell this guy is about to go all crazy on me." I don't know why, but it happens. Maybe it's because I know the narrator is making up his story as he goes along. He doesn't know what's on the next page any more than I do. And while that can at times make me uncertain, what's the fun of having a perfectly trustworthy narrator? My life isn't an encyclopedia.