Julio Cortazar: Short Stories Lesson Plan

How would you describe the narrator in "Axolotl"? Where in the story is the first indication that he may not be reliable? Cite examples throughout the story where he displays his personality, character, and credibility.

After having read the whole story, students may find absurdity in the first paragraph: "Now I am an axolotl." They may also note a childish or fantasy-prone possessiveness with the word choice when he describes the lions and panthers: "my panther was asleep". From a psychoanalytical perspective, the narrator gives himself away when he says, "There's nothing strange in this", because inherently true in the unprovoked statement is its opposite, that there is...