How does the narrator’s point of view affect the reliability of information in a memoir?

• A. It can bias the account, making some details subjective and less objective.
• B. It always makes the account objective
• C. It has no impact on reliability
• D. It guarantees accuracy

Answer: (A)

A memoir’s reliability rests on how the narrator’s viewpoint shapes what gets remembered and how it’s described. The narrator’s memories are filtered through personal experiences, beliefs, emotions, and biases, so they naturally select, emphasize, or omit details. This means the account can be colored in ways that are subjective rather than purely factual, which tends to reduce objectivity. That’s why the idea that perspective can bias the telling and make some details less objective is the strongest answer. It’s not that perspective always yields objectivity, nor that it has no impact, nor that it guarantees accuracy—memory and interpretation are inherently fallible and shaped by who is telling the story.