Truth in Literature

The truth provides different functions to different people. Truth to some people is simply boring so they choose to alter it as much as possible. This is also known as lying. Others try to run away from it, they simply cannot deal with reality. Some even go to the extreme by living their while life as a lie, while trying to deceive others. The truth in literature, as I perceive it, is something that only the reader can decide as being fact or fiction. There is neither right nor wrong to the information you obtain. The option is in your hands, and you are the one who should decide eventually if what you read or hear is fact, fiction, valuable, important, or useful for your future. Marta Martin may have omitted certain emotions or occurrences in order to appear stronger and more heroic to a reader. Richard Rodriguez lied to himself throughout his life in order to make himself believe he was better than his past. Finally, W.D. Snodgrass lied to everyone around him and even to himself, while chasing female students, in order to maintain an appearance of an upstanding professor.

The story of Marta Martin can be very strange to some, but others can see her as a hero. Marta Martin was a pregnant woman who found herself caught in a terrible storm in the middle of Alaska. She was forced to survive on her own and there was no one else to help her. Marta kept a diary where she described how she managed to survive. In her diary she described a day when she killed a sea otter with an ax, peeled his skin, and ate his liver and heart. When you read her story you try to imagine a woman doing all that, but it gets harder when you realize that most pregnant women find even the smallest chores difficult. I tried to imagine a woman, but all I could invision was a man. What is even more interesting is that there was no emotion mentioned in the diary. There were no complaints, or pain, and she never mentioned the fact that she might be scared staying at the house all alone with her baby due very soon. She wrote about events that required emotional strength and physical characteristics not common to a young pregnant woman. Marta never once mentioned fear or apprehension that I feel even a man might feel in those circumstances. Many who read her story would be astonished to think that she accomplished all that alone. Many others will consider her a liar. In the beginning of her story she mentioned the reason as to why she choose to tell her story "I can hardly write, but I must. For two reasons: first I am afraid I may never live to tell my story, and second, I must do something to keep my sanity." (martin,301) I believe she wrote the story not because she wanted to keep her sanity. Clearly she had plenty of work to do before the baby came, but she chose to write her story so that no one will forget her, so that everyone who will read this story sees her as a hero. A woman who did what would be impossible for most women out there. I don't know Marta Martin, though somewhere in my heart I believe that the truth is quite different. The truth is, that as a woman, she must have been scared and lonely. I'm sure that she had many nights she found herself crying and praying for help. The truth, as I see it , is that there is no woman in this world who can kill an animal , get trapped in snow storm, live all by herself pregnant, and not mention a word of fear . However, it is not up to me to tell the truth. I’m simply the person who read it, and chooses to accept it, or interpret it differently. Marta Martin wanted to remain a hero. She wanted everyone to remember her as a hero. And with all that she did, that woman is a hero with or without mentioning a word or two of fear. The truth might be far different than what she chose to portray in her diary, but the fact is that she did survive, she did kill the sea otter and peel his skin, and she did have her baby. That's the truth. What happened in between is her choice to tell us, and it is our responsibility to accept it or not.

Richard Rodriguez altered the truth in a different way than Marta Martin and for a different purpose. Rodriguez was boy who wanted to be different from his middle class immigrant family. As a child Richard read as many books as he could, he used to always be the one to answer teacher’s questions and soon became smarter then his siblings and even his parents. His family couldn't really understand why he was so fascinated in reading books all the time and his brothers and sisters used to make fun of him. Even the other pupils in the class did not like him since he was the "smart" one. Later on, when it came time to choose a college, he chose the one far from home, far from his family. By then, he was embarrassed by his family’s lack of education and attempted to isolate himself as much as possible. In college he did very well and when he used to come back home he had nothing to