For the entirety of the novel thus far, we have been struggling with who and what can be trusted. From the personal accounts, to the shady mystery person who put them all together, we don’t have a firm grasp on the truth. Mr. Fairlie even explicitly states that his account is by no means accurate. How then, do we discern the truth from the falsities of the unreliable narration? I think that we could look to characters that are so far removed from the situation that they couldn’t possibly have a bias.
Nina, Laura Fairlie’s Italian greyhound has no reason (or presence of mind rather) to attempt to deceive the reader. A dog’s reaction to a person is a perfect judge of their character for there are no ulterior motives, simply instinctual reactions. During Mr. Gilmore’s account, he recounts the dog’s reactions to both Sir Percival Glyde and Mr. Hartright. In regards to Sir Percival, Nina “barked and snapped” (134). Dissimilarly, instead of reacting in the same violent manner when in the presence of Mr. Hartright, “the whimsical little brute falsified [Mr. Gilmore’s] expectations by jumping into [Mr. Hartright’s] lap and poking its sharp muzzle familiarly into his hand” (141). There is clearly a contrast in how Nina perceives both men. Her adverse reaction to Sir Percival suggests something threatening about his character.
Here the novel is urging us to see Nina as a perfect and unbiased judge of character. If this is true, we can then derive that Sir Percival Glyde is inherently bad. Though this is not new information, it is the only time we receive this knowledge as fact. This animal does not understand ideas of class, wealth, power or any human social constructs for that matter. It is looking through a lens completely devoid of any of the influencing factors that make the narrators’ so untrustworthy. The dog only knows is who is agreeable and who is not. This simple binary makes her judgment the most reliable.
In the same vein, children possess this same kind of unbiased judgment before they are socialized and introduced to societal teachings and norms. If we equate Anne Catherick, who is described multiple times throughout the book as childlike and innocent, then it would follow that Anne’s judgment is trustworthy as well. Though she is closely involved with the plot, one could argue that she is far enough removed mentally to be trusted. By possessing the mental faculties of a child, she has no reason to deceive us—she may not even be capable. Just like Laura’s dog, Anne possesses the same distaste for Sir Percival. At the mere mention of his name she is sent into a horrified frenzy. Both Nina and Anne are presented as more reliable than the narrators’ and should be trusted primarily.
The issue of trusting the narrator has become very important. As we get more involved with the story, the more imperative it becomes to know what is true and what is not. Those unaffected by society and its influences, in this case animals and children, seem to be the only characters we can trust. I wonder then, what the significance of Count Fosco’s animals is and why he can command them? Or what it really says about Blackwater Park that they senselessly murder stray dogs?