Memoir Readings Reflection

I really enjoyed reading the excerpt from Becoming due to its sensory details and visual storytelling. I thought that the diction and tone used felt conversational and sincere, connecting the memoir with a broad audience. While reflecting on the past, the happy memory of running through the field stood out to me. It wasn’t because it was lighthearted, but because it felt so honest. Michelle Obama uses statements such as “maybe” and “possibly” in her retellings which best show how memories can fade or alter with time and perspective. Michelle Obama writes, “Maybe he says it over the phone or it’s possible we’re already together when he gets the idea… Are we talking? Holding hands? I don’t recall, but the feeling is easy” (2018, p.88). This uncertainty connects with the ideas of memory shared within the excerpt from The Art of Memoir. The piece discusses digging for memories and interrogating yourself to follow your mind back from the time. In Michelle asking herself questions, she does this process in front of the reader making her seem transparent. The audience gets her thread of truth rather than a fabrication. I thought one line from The Art of Memoir fitting for these retellings. The Art of Memoir stated, “Memory is a pinball in a machine—it messily ricochets around between image, idea, fragments of scenes, stories you’ve heard”. The drive to and the field itself was one of many fragments of scenes Michelle conveys to the audience. 

I also enjoyed the text, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, and author Jeanette Winterson’s take on memory and writing. One passage that stood out to me in her writing was, “Part fact part fiction is what life is. And it is always a cover story. I wrote my way out” (Winterson, 2011, p. 6). Winterson then further explains later, “Truth for anyone is a very complex thing. For a writer, what you leave out says as much as those things you include” (2011, p.8). This explains the subjective parts of truth and how a writer’s style in storytelling can influence or shape how events are played out in the minds of readers. Overall, her recollections of the past–at least the ones previewed within the excerpt–were more traumatic and painful. She admits to the audience in leaving out pieces of her story due to this pain. In connection to “Of Memoir & Memory”, I felt the piece strongly correlated to the concepts of artistic versus authentic memories and screen memories. The passage starting with, “I have a memory– true or not true?” (Winterson, 2011, p.11) best exemplifies this. Winterson talks about the contrasts between the violent, upsetting memory and the presence of roses and her favorite outfit. I wondered if the emphasis on these positive factors was to block or dilute the pain around the memory in its entirety.