Emotion versus accuracy in memoir

 Though conveyed differently, Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal both take a similar approach in the process of authenticating their memories. Both authors take stock in the importance of emotion in their memories. They spend more time sharing the ways they felt, and the emotions they feel in the present rather than the concrete facts and intricate details of their experiences. I find that this approach is more digestible and interesting for the reader. When we read these accounts we most likely want to know what they were feeling so we can identify with them. We can’t feel that emotion if we’re too busy reading about whether or not Obama was holding hands with that guy in the field. 

Some details are crucial to a good story, but not every detail is significant enough to make a difference. The last segment of the Winterson readings are a great example. 

Winterson writes “the memory is surrounded by roses, which is odd because it is a violent and upsetting memory, but my grandad was a keen gardener and he particularly loved roses.” Details like this are great because they help paint a picture of the setting, while conveying the emotions felt in that moment. It’s not important that there were actually roses there, but the way Winterson shrouds the memory in roses to numb the pain shows the reader how difficult it is to write about this experience, and gives the reader a sense of how traumatic this timestamp really was. 

Winterson later uses emotion to her advantage when describing the argument between her adoptive mother and her suspected biological mother. She doesn’t try to recreate the argument or speculate on what they said. Rather, she elaborates on the emotion by writing “there is an argument between the two women, a terrible argument that I can't understand, and something fierce and frightening, like animal fear.” In this instance, I believe this description is much more powerful than a conversation recreated for the sake of accuracy.