Creating a Narrative we can live with

 

One thing that really stood out to me from the readings was how Jeanette talks about her childhood and her decision to become a writer in "Why be Happy when you can be Normal?". She talks a lot about her "semi-autobiography" and how she cannot answer questions about specific events, but is able to say that she incorporated the character "Elise" to help shield her from her mother. This fictional character has an essential role in the narrative because without her Jeanette could not face the truth that she bore her mother's abuse alone. This struck me as both heartbreaking and unfortunate because I can hardly imagine a life without my own sister. Furthermore, as people grow up the need to share our experiences with someone important grows. For example, there is infinitely more pleasure in recounting a shocking (however trivial) event to someone, than experiencing the event alone. 

In the excerpt from "The Art of Memoir," Mary Karr also debates about the truth and reliability of recalling any event. In her student's practice she creates a scene that is both shocking and memorable, and asks that they recount it for her. She recognizes that almost all her students don't get every detail right and even agree with her on a false detail she makes up. This to me solidifies that no memoir is perfect and completely accurate. More importantly, the most accurate aspects of any memoir are probably the feelings the author experienced. We see this in Jeanette's creation of Elise as it indirectly captures the loneliness she felt and how true her desire was to have had someone be there for her as a child.