Paper 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Paper 2 - Essay Example For instance, Lauren Slater’s Metaphorical Memoir ‘Lying’, she chronicles her youth, how she struggled with epilepsy until she was cured through psychotherapy and medication; however, Slater also narrates how, when after being diagnosed with epilepsy, she developed the irresistible compulsion to lie. On the other hand, in her Autobiographical Memoir titled â€Å"The Kiss†, Kathryn Harrison reveals how, due toan unhealthy relationship with her mother, she became a victim of an incestuous relationship with her father. In this respect, we can posit that both Slater and Harrison had devised alternative ways of seeking attention to fill the emptiness from being neglected while growing up- compulsive lying and incestuous relationship respectively. Lauren Slater’s metaphorical memoir ‘Lying’ is an outright lie right from the title where she boldly and loudly announces that the contents of the book do not represent a true account of her life. As if that is not enough, Lauren Slater advertently imposes upon the reader a need to redraw the lines between factual truth and metaphorical truths; she achieves this by cunningly confusing facts and fiction throughout the book thus undermining the very essence of a memoir, which naturally is supposed to be a true account of events in one’s life. ... uring her adolescence, Lauren too begins lying, stealing and faking seizures as alternative ways of seeking attention from the people around her; this shows how neglected she was and how desperately she craved for the much needed attention. Later in her life, Slater begins an affair with a married man who was much older than she was but the relationship ends badly; Slater resorts to attending Alcoholics Anonymous sessions even though she was not alcoholic. However, Slater tells her story with so much conviction that even when she later confesses that she was not an alcoholic, everyone dismisses her true story as denial (Slater 207). The interplay between literal/factual with the Metaphorical/fictional is heightened even further when Slater suggests that epilepsy affects the memory thus, by confusing her emotional memory and factual memory, Slater raises concerns about the fundamental assumptions of the Memoir genre and all narrative self-disclosure. Kathryn Harrison develops an inces tuous relationship with her father as a way of courting the much needed attention due to her being neglected by her mother while growing up. In her autobiographical novel, â€Å"The Kiss†, Harrison reveals how her distant father figure coupled with the unhealthy relationship with her mother translates into a four-year incestuous affair; growing up, Harrison had close to no clue of her father until she recreates him in her own mind as someone bigger, faster and stronger than all other dads do. Harrison is raised by her grandparents because her parents divorced when she was only six months old (Harrison 5); her father appears ghostly, almost mythical because she is not allowed to discuss or talk about him. This causes the young Harrison to become extremely curious about her absent father, the