When readers think of memoirs, most often, they think of someone account of past events. Although it is not explicitly stated, memoirs are assumed to be true. In fact, memoirs are often considered a subgenre of autobiographies. which is why most memoirs can be found in the non-fiction section, placed near biographies in many libraries and bookstores. Therefore it is logical to assume memoirists should write the truth, or at least, close to their memories account of past events.
Although memoirists should report the truth, it is unreasonable to expect authors to remember specific details or mention every day of their lives. However, writers pass the moral line when they start recreating the truth. This is what author of A Million Little Pieces,
…show more content…
Of course, memoirists shouldn’t be held to the same journalistic integrity as new reporters. However, when readers consume these memoirs, they assume what they read is completely true. Some might argue that white lies spread in between stories shouldn’t matter. Nonetheless, when the truth is less valuable than selling books, it could lead to a slippery slope when the truth doesn't’ even matter anymore. Patricia Hampel an English professor at the University of Minnesota describes it perfectly. She writes “memoir must be written because each of us must possess a created version of the past… If we refuse to do the work of creating this personal version of the past, someone else will do it for us.” Especially in this social climate and digital age where the truth and lies seem hard to separate, it is important to place truth in a high status. She further on warns that “if we think of memory naively, as a simple story, logged like a documentary in the archive of the mind, we miss its beauty but also its function.” An important thing to take from Hampel’s excerpt is that the truth is a valuable matter. Embellishing the truth in a personal matter seems insignificant now, but in the future, it could lead to a slippery slope where lies are equals to the
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and The Scarlet Letter. Both authors persuade the reader to feel pain of the stories subject. In Little Girls in Pretty Boxes the author used pathos and interviewing to share the stories of these overly dedicated youth. Joan Ryan wrote to show how these young, talented, sophisticated women can hide the harsh reality of the sport. In her biography she listed the physical problems that these young girls go through. They have eating disorders, stunted growth, weakened bones, depression, low self esteem, debilitating and fatal injuries, and many sacrifice dropping out of school. Whereas the Scarlet Letter is a fictional drama that uses persuasion and storytelling to involve the reader. Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses
By using comic as a medium of transferring the concept, David Small has successfully guilt the readers through the silence and secret of his childhood.
I feel guilty sometimes. Forty-three years old and I’m still writing war stories. My daughter Kathleen tells me it’s an obsession, that I should write about a little girl who finds a million dollars and spends it all on a Shetland pony. In a way I guess, she’s right; I should forget it. But the thing about remembering is that you don’t forget. (33)
Stories told to show the past are important because they make people remember the past so they don't repeat it. When there was a console to get the sickness out of Luo by wiping him with “two Branches, one from a peach tree, the other from a willow.” They said to Luo “Only these trees would do”(p34). This shows that they if they had been told that wiping wouldn’t help a sickness, then they mite not of beaten Luo. This also shows that they have lost some civility by not being able to learn form history. Another story told is used to invoke emotions.
The sentiment from Laila’s childhood, that people should not have more children if they have already given all of their love to their other children, informs her reaction to becoming pregnant with Rasheed’s child because she was worried that she would repeat history by not loving Rasheed’s child as much as she loved Tariq’s. Laila did not feel that her mother loved her as much as she loved her brothers. She felt as if her mother had no love to give her because she had already given it all away to her two sons. When Laila became aware that she was pregnant with Rasheed’s child, she contemplated killing it inside the womb because she did not believe that she could love
What provokes a person to write about his or her life? What motivates us to read it? Moreover, do men and women tell their life story in the same way? The answers may vary depending on the person who answers the questions. However, one may suggest a reader elects to read an autobiography because there is an interest. This interest allows the reader to draw from the narrator's experience and to gain understanding from the experience. When the reader involves him/herself in the experience, the reader encounters what is known and felt by the narrator. The encounter may provide the reader an opportunity to explore a time and place long past.
The Liars’ Club displayed all of the troubles that Karr and her family had to go through, but neither of them gave up once, despite all of the hardships and that “cobbled” them “together out of fear” (Karr 320). It’s not easy to look back on unfavorable memories, but in the end an adult Karr and her older mother were able to absolve their feelings by opening up and being honest about what had happened to them so they could be set free from the past. With true grit and family love Karr was able to show how she was able to cope with her abuse and traumatic memories by capturing the moments that strengthened her and her family’s characters and putting them all into her memoir. Karr could finish her memoir with on a soft note as she warmly thinks about her mother, father and sister. That moment was the strongest part about Karr’s memoir because she steps out of her ‘little girl’ self and as an adult woman she does not let the memories break her spirit as she tells her story about the people in her
In this sense, she wrote the memoirs to defend the honor and integrity of her father, uncle and brother, in order to tell the truth about the circumstance surrounding their deaths.
Escaping poverty was one of the themes of “A Raisin in the Sun.” The family’s chance of escape becomes a reality when a $10,000 check arrives in the mail. Everyone is wanting to spend their money for their own dream, each with their own way of escaping poverty. Walter believes that investing all the money into the liquor store will put the family higher in the ranks while earning them more income, therefore they would no longer be poverty-stricken. He believes money is everything and wants his family to have the best. This can be seen when he tells his son, “[without even looking at his son, still staring hard at his wife] In fact, here’s another fifty cents…Buy yourself some fruit today – or take a taxicab to school or something!” (pg 1.1.59).
Joan Didion stated in her essay “On Keeping a Notebook” her purpose for a notebook “has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking.” She started to question her thinking “Why did I write it down?" She voiced that she clearly wanted to remember what she had written down, but what and how much exactly was that? Didion said, “Why do I keep a notebook at all?” Joan’s family members pointed out to her that her notebook contained lies, saying “Thats simply not true”. She knew her family was right, but she has trouble distinguishing between what she thought happened, and what solely happened. “The cracked crab I recall having for lunch the day my father came home from Detroit in 1945 must certainly be embroidery, worked into the day’s pattern to lend verisimilitude; I was ten years older would not now remember the cracked
The author explains to the reader in the chapter titled “Notes” that, “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others… incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain”
a man and a woman. While sounding simple enough, many aspects of the story such as the role
The short story "The Monkey's Paw" has multiple themes and underlying themes, but the one that has stuck out to me the most is don't try to change your fate. In the story, we watch the White family learn about the monkey's paw and how much power it has. Sergeant Major Morris told the White family about the origin of the paw and how he thought it was dangerous. Sergeant Major Morris attempts to throw it in the fire, but Mr. White thinks that it could be useful. Based on the evidence provided it states "Mr.White says 'I don't know what to wish for and that's a fact, it seems to me I've got all I want.'
In studying the advent of autobiography as a genre in its own right, it would seem to be a particularly modern form of literature, a hybrid form of biography. Also, the distinctions between the forms of the biography, personal history or diary and novel are becoming questioned in that the autobiography is not an account of wisdom accumulated in a lifetime but a defining of identity. 2
In today 's society, it is normal for young children to believe in fairytales. These fairytales are normally seen throughout books and movies but also through parents reading them as bedtime stories. These tales in our society have unrecognized hidden guidelines for ethics and behaviors that we provide for children. One such children 's story is Disney’s Cinderella, this film seems to be a simple tale of a young woman whose wishes work out as to be expected. This tale reflects the expectations of women 's actions and beliefs of a proper women.