Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)
If you've ever wanted to read minds, this is your chance. The entire story takes place within the mind of Bob Slocum. Even conversations and dialogue are shared as Slocum remembers them, not necessarily as they actually happened.
Let's take a closer look at a conversation between Slocum and Andy Kagle, for example:
"What do you hear?" he wants to know.
"About what?"
"You know."
"What do you mean?"
"Jesus Christ," he complains, "you used to be truthful with me. Now I can't even trust you, either."
"What are you talking about?"
"I hear that I'm out and Brown's in, and that you probably know all about it. I was tipped off in Denver."
"You're full of s***."
"I like your honesty."
"I like yours." (2.117)
Slocum plays back conversations like this almost as if he were pressing play on a recording device. He recounts this conversation he supposedly had with Kagle about his job promotion, but do we believe that this actually happened exactly as Slocum presents it? Could Slocum skew dialogues to make him appear more favorable in our eyes?
We sort of take for granted that Slocum is a reliable narrator. Though we question him a bit when he mixes dreams with reality, he doesn't really give us much reason to believe that he's been intentionally lying to us. But we never really know.
Slocum has total control over how he presents his narrative to us, and he tells all of the events in his life in an order that serves him best. We may find that we grow fond of Slocum because we get to know him so well, but perhaps we spend almost too much time with him. He's a guy we sometimes love to hate, but with him telling the story, we learn just about everything we need to know (and then some) about the dude.
So what do you think, Shmoopers? Is Slocum a reliable narrator? Why or why not?