For some reason I always thought this story was nonfiction, meaning it really did happen. Setting down the book, however, I noticed that the back cover stated it as “fiction.” This threw me off. Everyone I’ve ever talked to about this book or the movie that goes with it has been convinced that it’s a true account of some woman’s life. If this is correct, I would like to know because it changes the story. Whatever the story is, I think that it being fiction or nonfiction really matters. It changes the way you will perceive that story and the characters in it. For instance, I just read a play in my Am. Lit. 2 class called Walls by Jeannie Barrago. It was an absolutely wonderful play giving many different sides of the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I thought it was a good play before I went to class and found out that the characters in it were actual people. They actually went through a version of what the play is about. Knowing this simple piece of knowledge changed the play for me. I want to know if Push is actually just a made up story that could have easily been someone’s life or if it really was someone’s life because the difference can make all the difference.
What do you think, does knowing what is real and what isn’t in a novel or other forms of literature change it for you?
Do you feel differently for the characters if you know that they are real people who experienced the situations you are reading about?
Would you prefer to know or be left in the dark?
Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI read "Push" last summer. I was always under the impression that it was a nonfiction novel, until recently when I found out it was realistic fiction, not a biography. The movie as well was said to be based on the life of actual people. The author, Sapphire, knew of several girls in the Bronx, NY and Harlem who she taught literacy classes to that went through some of these experiences.
Initially this book took on a whole other life, when it was first introduced to me. Im an avid reader and generally I read anything by Black Authors that I get my hands on, my favorite currently being J. California Cooper. This book I thought was a true story. I would read the book, trudge through the scenes, cry, curse and wonder why she had to go through all of this; being illiterate, molested by her mother and mother's men, drug abuse, abuse and having children in these conditions. I was so excited to see that she had beat the odds and by the end of the tale, though not an excellent ending I was glad for her triumphs.
However when I found out that the story wasnt exactly hers, I applauded her efforts. She's not the first African American authors to be so successful. Fantasia Barrino's story is true, nonfiction, and she was illiterate as well; but she beat the odds with flying colors.
With reading this story I dont think that it matters whether or not the story is real or imagined. I enjoyed the material just the same. I wasnt able to identify with being illiterate, but as a Black female, her story wasnt unlike some of my own personal experiences as far as some things go. Overall it still ranks very high with a lot of books I would read and REREAD by African American Female Authors that are putting out this caliber of work.
READ it opens doors!!!
Knowing whether a novel is fiction or not does actually change the novel for me and I think it is because when you know that the story actually happened the message is all the more powerful. It’s like a proven truth versus a theory. The proven truth is more powerful, more respected because it is known to be true, but theories that have not been proven do not hold as much value, although they may be no less true. Even though I realize that the events that occurred in Push are all real things that have happened to people, the novel would have been a lot more powerful if based on a true story. I think that audiences would have been horrified to know a real live person actually lived through everything Precious did. People love to read inspirational stories about real individuals who have beaten the odds. However Push is not as much an inspirational story as it is a message, and although I have not watched the movie yet, I would imagine that knowing the story was true might have had a negative effect on the readers of this book. In the same way that people want inspirational they also want that comfort of knowing it’s not real, it’s just a story. Precious went through such a horrendous ordeal that viewers and readers probably better endured the contents within the fictional comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteI think I do feel differently toward the characters when I know they have actually lived through the stories I am reading. It would be similar to those situations when you can say, “hey I know someone personally who has been to New York” suddenly you have a connection to a real person, not just a character, who has been there and it makes the story the character tells carry more weight. I guess our society as a whole puts a lot of value on facts and I am no exception, but in reality just as much truth can come from fiction.
I always prefer to know whether the stories I am reading are fictional or not just because I like to know exactly what I am reading. This information can also make a difference in how I as the reader interpret the message of the author. Is it autobiographical or is the author just making a point?
-Elizabeth Farley
Liz, I completely agree with everything you said. I would add that the reason that nonfiction has a stronger impact on me is that I get more emotional when I read it. I am not old, but have has some experiences that have shown me the depths of humanity. From living in East Nashville (very bad end of town) for years, serving in the Army, and especially doing police work and later Children's hospital security management, I am not surprised by awful things.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read about these things in fiction, I realize that they exist so they are really just reminding me about horrible things. Also, they have a similar watered-down effect of someone posing a question to me. If someone asked you, "What if your parents sexually abused you?" I would respond about how it would suck and what I hope that I would have done, but the issue would never go beyond a sort of cerebral exercise.
On the other hand, when I read about actual occurrences, it is very disturbing. Partly because their factual existence reminds me of similar things that I have been a part of, but partly because I have real targets, toward which I can project my emotions (sympathy for the victims, anger and outrage at the perpetrators etc.).
Push is a very powerful novel and it struck me in several parts as I read it, but I didn’t cry. Nor did I cry reading Shadow Tag, even though one of my best friends went through similar things. I did cry when I read about Zonana’s rape, though that account is much softer than the more graphic and brutal account in Push.
The simple fact for me is that I do not like real people to get hurt or to hurt others. I (like Plato) am a fan of justice. The best a novel can get from me is a sense of joy, but it has to be earned through great storytelling (a certain one of Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ characters actually made me smile for about five minutes while I thought about the implications of it).
- Japheth
Liz, I would say I am affected equally by fiction and non-fiction, as long as it's realistic. If it is something that could possibly happen to someone, whether there is an actual account or not, it probably has happened somewhere in secrecy and I am affected the same as if there is the name of a living figure attached to it. Great job of analyzing the story and bringing up important points.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to add that I recently read an interview with Sapphire by NPR wherein she said she had encountered many girls similar to Precious. Girls that were overweight, academically lacking, and felt outside the confines of normal society. She said she also encountered once a girl who had been impregnated by her father. Sapphire said she thought to herself at that point if she didn't write the a story reflecting the hardships of these girls, no one would.
I too, am affected equally by powerful stories whether they are based on a real person's life or not. Even if a book is classified as fiction, I can still imagine that these real events have happened to a person somewhere over the course of history. Of course, I would prefer to know if a story is really based on someone's life or not, but I would still take the same amount of empathy into the reading even if events like those featured in Push weren't real.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteWhen you read a novel like Push, it's difficult not to be affected by it, whether it's based on actual events or not. However, when you realize that it isn't entirely fiction, you can't help but look at it somewhat differently--or at least this is true in my case. Although I felt a great amount of sympathy for Precious, I could still get through the novel because I was under the impression that she was just a character. I was safe in the knowledge (however incorrect) that the unfortunate circumstances surrounding this character were fictional. I can't help but find the novel even more disturbing now that I know some of these horrible events were based on someone's life.
I typically am much more prone to investigating the details in nonfiction stories than I am while reading fictional stories. This does not mean that I do not enjoy fictional literature, in fact some of my favorite books of all time are fictional works. That being said, there is something to knowing that the story was real, insofar as the book has already come alive, it really happened. The element of history and reality makes many books very powerful works. I read NIGHT by Elie Weisel in high school, and the reality of the book's recount of real events was enough to turn my mind and stomach over many times.
ReplyDelete"Push" was a rather difficult read for me, not just necessarily due to the grammer but for the life the Precious had to live. The imagery and graphicness of the book made me at times simply want to quit reading while at the same time being a page turner. At some points I remember being physically sick to my stomach when I learned what Precious had to endure. If this had been a work of non-fiction it would send me into a whole new deeper level of hatred like I have never experienced before.
ReplyDelete