When I look back and think about what I thought a memoir should be before I read Running in the Family it was much different than what my perspective is now. Last year in my English 12 class we were given a writing assignment where we had to craft a memoir. We were told that we had to write a personal historical account about our life or a specific event that made an impact on ourselves. This was the very first time I was introduced to what a memoir was. I wrote my memoir from my point of view and told my story the way it happened and how it impacted me. This was all about myself and my experience. Looking at how Ondaatje wrote his memoir it is quite different than what your standard memoir would include. Ondaatje blurs the lines between fiction, a travel book, a memoir and even adds in poetry when he tells his journey about finding his father and how this impacts his identity (Boland). Reading this book was almost refreshing in the sense that it was not your typical historical account of someone’s life. It was the journey of someone finding their identity and piecing together all of the history from his family’s past.
Ondaatje broke the unsaid rule that a memoir is supposed to be about what the author personally and truly experiences. Many times throughout the book Ondaatje recalls things that he wasn’t even alive for and he just simply heard these stories from other people. The quote “No story is ever told just once.” (26) is evidence showing that Ondaatje believes that a story is a circulation that is retold in different ways and by different people. Ondaatje’s memoir is interesting because it leads the reader to question whether some of these stories about his family actually did happen or if it is what he wished had happened. He shows us that your memoir is your story and can be told in whatever way you want to describe the events and how they occurred. This style of writing led me to think about how we recall stories in general and how we portray our lives to the public eye. Of course when we are telling others stories about our lives we want it to sound the best it can be which sometimes leads one to add small details to make a story more extravagant.
In today’s modern time this is happening everywhere with social media. People are becoming famous by tricking the majority of the population that they live a life of luxury through posting amazing photos. In reality most of the pictures are fake and staged and that is not their real life. An interesting article in the Telegraph spoke about how easy it is to fake a ‘perfect life’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/one-man-proves-how-easy-it-is-to-fake-a-perfect-life-on-facebook/. In the article a quote stuck out to me “Dr Sherry said that social media had the power to ‘undermine the coherence between our real, lived lives and memories.’” This quote not only represents how easy it is to fabricate appearances on social media but also how easy it is to fake things anywhere including a memoir. I believe that the majority of people subconsciously embellish their stories when they are being told but they just aren’t recognizing it. Whereas Ondaatje recognizes that his story is not all from his personal experiences but he has taken these pieces of information and made it his own. So overall yes my perception on what a memoir is has changed. It has made me realize that people often tell stories in the way that they want them to be perceived and that there are no rules or regulations when it comes to a personal account.
Citations:
Boland, Rosita. “Why I Love: Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family.” The Irish Times. N.p., 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.