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Unreliable Narrator
Explanation and Analysis:
Modernist authors popularized "the unreliable narrator," seeking to highlight a lack of objective truth in both literature and life. Though The Singing Lesson is not told in first person, it is still filtered through Miss Meadows's perspective, and readers get the sense early on that she is an unreliable narrator. For example, Miss Meadows claims that the Science Mistress's "blue eyes opened wide; there came a mocking light in them.” While this line may appear objective on its own, the preceding sentences describe the Science Mistress as utterly sweet, meaning that there is little reason to believe she's mocking Miss Meadows.
Similarly, when Miss Meadows enters the music hall to lead her class, she says that "[s]he knew perfectly well what [her students] were thinking. ‘Meady is in a wax.’” However, she does not know this "perfectly well," as mere moments beforehand, Mary Beazley shushed her classmates upon Miss Meadows's arrival, presumably out of respect for the teacher. Ultimately, Mansfield teaches readers not to trust Miss Meadows's judgement—and as Miss Meadows eventually chooses to go through with her troubled engagement, readers are meant to view her decision (and the emotions surrounding it) as foolish.
