Truthfulness In Memoir

Submitted By KyleMcgarrh1
Words: 761
Pages: 4
Open Document
Truthfulness in Memoirs

When choosing memoirs, readers expect to learn about the truthful events of the authors past experiences, but at times authors tend to alter details to make their writing appeal to those who want to connect with it. Many people question as to whether it is right or wrong to bend the truth of a memoir, however many also think it could go both ways. A memoirist’s commitment should be the truth, but the truth can sometimes be sacrificed for more interesting story telling.

All the publishing companies who debate whether or not a memoir should be sent out to the public or not, should acknowledge the fact that an author’s memoir strictly came from their memory and personal experiences, so there might be subjective truth. The author, James Frey, wrote about his recovery from being a drug addict and alcoholic, but was accused of lying to the public even though he did state that it was his truth and it was genuine. Frey isn’t the first memoirist to have embellished his writing to appeal to the reader and “script his narrative” (Tobias Wolfe).

The exaggeration of some of the details in memoirs has brought many questions to the public. The author Judy Blunt, who won an award for “Breaking Clean”, which told the story about her three small children who were caught in the middle of a harsh situation at her Husband's Montana Ranch, had admitted she made up some of the events in her story. She claimed that her narration of a traumatic or life-changing event isn’t created in the actual event. It’s created in hindsight as you try to make sense of what happened, and like good storytellers, you amplify some things and recede others through a quiet sleight of hand by embellishing it. Judy Blunt says, “Just write your truth, and be as accurate as you can. After all, a memoir is about memory, not just facts.” (Naselli). It should not be considered “wrong” for an author to elaborate some of the details in their writing. It's up to the readers to be affected by it or not. James Frey shouldn’t have lied in his book, “A Million Little Pieces”. In 2005 James Frey published a book “A Million Little Pieces” as a memoir; it should have been published as fiction. In “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe it tells a true memoir about astronauts who pioneered America’s space program. The following excerpt is from a book that provides guidance to writers of memoirs. “I think of Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, an account of the astronauts, who pioneered America’s space program. Wolfe’s reporting throughout is solid; he hasn’t embellished the facts” (Zinsser). “In A Million Little Pieces “James Frey lied about a few accounts that took place in his book. He said ““I never expected the book to become as successful as it has.”” Some people can agree with him to some extent.
Show More

Related Documents: Truthfulness In Memoir

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

my Sunday to study. Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly rests in my lap as I consider the life Bauby lived. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is Bauby’s personal account of his experience living the latter part of his life with locked-in syndrome, a condition that left him completely paralyzed less one of his eyes. Bauby was able to communicate his narratives to a scribe using a meticulous method involving Bauby blinking when the scribe said each individual letter he wanted…

Words 998 - Pages 4

"Night" essay

Due Date: 10.01.13 Nothing is Left “The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it.” (34) Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, is an eye-opening novel about the conditions of the lives of the Jews who were held in concentration camps during the Holocaust. The Jews had to go through many sufferings, one of the major ones being deprived of every such thing that could…

Words 1227 - Pages 5

Hilda Satt Polacheck Research Paper

with her family in order to avoid the Russian army. Holding onto their Jewish religious beliefs, the family settled into a neighborhood near the Hull House, a settlement house where migrants could seek help and receive services when they entered the country. In Polacheck’s memoir about her life reflecting on the time period, it portrays progressives as social reformers who acted on behalf of immigrants in their actions towards improving public health and education. In general, Progressives identified…

Words 1196 - Pages 5

Brave Orchard Analysis

envisioned herself to be; the Woman Warrior. Kingston struggles with fear and envy when she learns about the slave girl that her mother bought; she develops the fear she, too, will be sold to China by her parents (Cheung 116). At the same time, she envies the slave girl and compares herself to her. She does so as a desperate attempt of assessing her own worth. Kingston notices the difference in Brave Orchard’s demeanor when recalling the slave as she observes, "My mother's enthusiasm for me is duller…

Words 1653 - Pages 7

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Logically Emotional Appeal Essay

from his desire to be a valued citizen in both his own, and society’s eyes. As the memoir progresses, Douglass is subject to more and more torture. At one point, Douglass decides that he will be treated as a slave no longer. He states, "My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white…

Words 941 - Pages 4

Katie Haegele Analysis

it has been revived twice, once when she was eleven, and once since she has entered adulthood. In a casual but not extremely informal tone, Haegele is able to convey to the reader a story-teller vibe while discussing how her childhood hobby was reanimated in adulthood to the reader, through not only her choice of words, but also her captivating style which makes itself known in various ways throughout Haegele’s essay. This essay was adapted from Katie Haegele’s memoir, “White Elephants: On Yard Sales…

Words 1039 - Pages 5

Bruce Feiler's Learning To Bow

engaged with critical texts from the actual culture there were criticizing. Bruce Feiler in his ironically mis-titled and New York Times best-selling memoir Learning to Bow, was particularly unskilled about being self aware of the constant heavy handed judgements he was making about a nation with 120 million people, in which he spent only one year. His memoir is subtitled “Inside the Heart of Japan” and is indexed to signal his assumed and fraudulent expertise. I will take the reader through my own mental…

Words 1136 - Pages 5

King Phillips War Research Paper

like to use Randolph because he supports my argument by stating the English have mistreated the natives. He was a puritan that had many theories on why the war started and it seems like he was beginning to understand it was the Puritans fault. I am choosing John Easton as a primary source because he documented a direct quote from King Phillip about his complaints which included: the steady loss of Wampanoag land to the Europeans, the English colonists growing herds of cattle and their destruction of…

Words 615 - Pages 3

The Concept of Vulnerability in Memoirs of a Beatnik and On the Road Essay

The Beat Generation: Vulnerable Victims or Inviolable Individuals? The Concept of Vulnerability in Memoirs of a Beatnik and On the Road Vulnerability is often one-dimensionally viewed as the degree to which mishaps, pain and shame are allowed to enter into one’s life. However it is also the birthplace of creativity and basis for a feeling of self-worthiness. Thereby vulnerability creates authenticity. There are various different definitions of vulnerability according to the field in which…

Words 3319 - Pages 14

Tiger Mother Final Draft Autosaved Essay example

Ashley Lynn Wiley Dr. Stephen Graf ENG101 20150216 A Mixture of the Two “At a time when American students are ranked seventeenth in the world in reading, twenty-third in science, and thirty-first in math, can the country settle for anything less than excellence” (Behrens, Rosen 258)? Perhaps this deems as the reasoning for the strictness of how Amy Chua describes herself and others who are of Asian descent, as a “Tiger Mother.” Perhaps this stems from the fact “that nothing is fun until you’re…

Words 627 - Pages 3