The Unreliability of a Temporary Love Story

In a short story, the comprehension of the audience relies solely on the reliability of the narrator. Because what the audience is seeing is such a small piece of a person's life or such a condensed version of a relationship, the only evidence of the story's truth comes from the narrator. This means that point of view, what the narrator reveals and feels, and the order in which information is revealed shape the entire story and the audience's perspective in a way that is quite unique to short stories. In the story Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story, the point of view and the narrator's honesty is essential to the audience's intended perspective. In A Temporary Matter, the knowledge that the narrator has (or the lack of knowledge) sets the audience up for as much irony as the character himself appreciates. The narrator’s realm of understanding influences how much the audience can understand, and, therefore, contributes enormously to the unfolding of the plot and to the proximity of the audience to the story.

It's hard to tell whether or not "Ron," the narrator of Sarah Cole, is reliable, but this ambiguity shapes the story and plays an active role in the plot. Ron alternates between telling the story in first person, from ten years after the action happens, and in third person, at the time of his relationship with Sarah. When writing in third person, he tells it more or less without bias, seemingly just relating facts about the two people's lives and levels of attractiveness. In first person, however, Ron shows regret for his behavior and an understanding of his thought processes gained by time and experience. This juxtaposition could increase the honesty of the story, but in truth it just makes it harder for the audience to know what's real and what's not. Because we don't necessarily know truth from lies, we are alienated from the story, while still being drawn in by the mystery and action.

In A Temporary Matter, the narrator simply misunderstands what is happening in his marriage, setting both himself and the audience up for disappointment. He misinterprets his wife's purpose for telling secrets in the dark; she intends to clear the air before leaving him, while he believes that she is trying to regain the closeness lost with their baby. The audience knows no more than what he tells, so we go along with that belief until the truth is revealed. This plays with the audience's emotions, allowing them to accompany the narrator in optimism before being crushed by the irony of the situation. We know as much as the narrator can reveal, bringing us closer to him and his emotions, and to the story.

The knowledge that the narrator of each story has and reveals shapes how the audience sees and reacts to the story. If we see a narrator as honest, it does not matter if he is wrong in the end -- we will follow him intensely through the story. If a narrator is somewhat suspect, however, we will follow him warily and question the truth of everything he relates. The two stories demonstrate this, both through the literal structure and point of view of each, and through the emotional response that the audience has to each story.