# Unknown Narrator — Heretics character guide > Unknown Narrator in Heretics by G. K. Chesterton. **Role:** major **Also known as:** your, mine, myself **First appearance:** 0001-heretics ## Snapshot A lone, combative essayist who stands guard over the word 'orthodoxy' while everyone around him boasts of being heretical. ## Who they are He opens by noticing a strange modern inversion: heresy now earns applause while orthodoxy earns a smirk, and no one any longer cares whether a philosophy is true. His driving desire is to drag cosmic questions back onto the tea-table, insisting that a man's view of the universe matters more than his view of tramcars. That stubborn insistence gives the book its spine, turning each portrait of a contemporary thinker into a test of whether anything is still worth believing. ## Relationships ### [Mr. Bernard Shaw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_bernard_shaw) _rivalry_ The narrator frequently critiques and debates Shaw's ideas, positioning him as a primary intellectual opponent. ### [Mr. McCabe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_mccabe) _rivalry_ McCabe is a frequent target of the narrator's criticism, representing a rationalist worldview the narrator opposes. ### [Mr. H. G. Wells](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_h_g_wells) _rivalry_ Wells is a major intellectual adversary, with the narrator challenging his utopian and scientific ideas. ### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/jesus_christ) _psychological_ Jesus is presented as a central moral and theological reference point, often contrasted with modern heretics. ### [Nietzsche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/nietzsche) _psychological_ Nietzsche is a key philosophical influence and foil, with the narrator engaging his ideas critically. ### [Mr. Rudyard Kipling](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_rudyard_kipling) _rivalry_ Kipling is criticized for his imperialist and pagan worldview, making him a target of the narrator's moral critique. ### [Jack the Giant-Killer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/jack_the_giant_killer) _psychological_ Jack is used as a symbolic figure representing traditional heroism and common sense against modern intellectualism. ### [Mr. Lowes Dickinson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_lowes_dickinson) _rivalry_ Dickinson is critiqued for his pacifist and idealist views, which the narrator sees as naive. ### [The English Comtist](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/the_english_comtist) _rivalry_ The English Comtist represents a positivist heresy that the narrator systematically refutes. ### [Ibsen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/ibsen) _rivalry_ Ibsen is criticized for his pessimistic and deterministic view of human nature, opposing the narrator's optimism. ### [Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/mr_smith) _social_ Mr. Smith is a minor figure representing the common man, used by the narrator to illustrate everyday heresies. ### [Nietzsche](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/nietzsche) _psychological_ Nietzsche is a key philosophical influence and foil, with the narrator engaging his ideas critically. ## In the story ### [Heretics](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/heretics) The narrator presents the central argument of the chapter, critiquing modern skepticism and advocating for dogmatic belief. ### [III: On Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/iii-on-mr-rudyard-kipling-and-making-the-world-small) Defends bores as poetical and godlike, argues all things are poetical, and critiques Kipling's worldview. ### [VIII: The Mildness of the Yellow Press](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/viii-the-mildness-of-the-yellow-press) The voice of the chapter, offering a personal impression that the yellow press is not sensational enough and lacks moral or immoral courage. ### [X: On Sandals and Simplicity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/x-on-sandals-and-simplicity) The narrator argues against the Tolstoyan simple life, advocating for high living and plain thinking. ### [XI: Science and the Savages](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/xi-science-and-the-savages) The narrator presents a sustained critique of scientific anthropology, arguing that the scientific method is inapplicable to human affairs because it requires suppressing the very humanity needed to understand people. ### [XIV: On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/xiv-on-certain-modern-writers-and-the-institution-of-the-family) The narrator presents a defense of the family as an arbitrary, romantic, and bracing institution. ### [XV: On Smart Novelists and the Smart Set](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/xv-on-smart-novelists-and-the-smart-set) The narrator presents a critique of modern smart novelists and the smart set, contrasting them with older, more honest forms of literature. ### [Slum Novelists and the Slums](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/chapters/xix-slum-novelists-and-the-slums) The narrator argues against slum fiction's claim to psychological truth, asserting that a democrat would imagine poverty without studying it. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters/unknown_narrator - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/heretics_se/characters