I was in control of what people thought of me, but I had no control over what they thought of my mother. When I asked my mother, 'How do I tell people about you?' her answer was, 'Tell the truth'. But of course, the truth is never simple.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the complexity of truth in relationships, particularly between a child and a parent.
Jeannette Walls reflects on her struggle to convey the essence of her mother while grappling with public perception. She acknowledges that while she can manage how others perceive her, her mother's image is beyond her control, and shares her mother's guidance to 'tell the truth.' However, she also recognizes that the truth is multifaceted and not easily articulated, highlighting the challenges in representing personal and familial truths.
In practice
In a speech about authenticity and honesty during a family gathering.
I hadn’t been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway. It didn’t really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.
Some people who've read my story think I had a terrible childhood and that I was neglected or even abused, while others feel that my parents, while certainly flawed, also had truly wonderful qualities. And that's the way it should be, because in real life two people can look at the same president and one will see a hero and the other a villain.
You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is "If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim
When people kill themselves, they think they're ending the pain, but all they're doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.
I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.
For reasons he couldn’t understand a sadness came over him and it was then he saw the girl standing on the other side of the dirt road, her eyes pools of absolute sorrow, her light brown hair glowing in the splinters of sunlight that forced their way through the trees.
They wanted black women to conform to the gender norms set by white society. They wanted to be recognized as 'men,' as patriarchs, by other men, including white men. Yet they could not assume this position if black women were not willing to conform to prevailing sexist gender norms. Many black women who has endured white-supremacist patriarchal domination during slavery did not want to be dominated by black men after manumission.
Here's a thing about the death of your mother, or anyone else you love: You can't anticipate how you'll feel afterward. People will tell you; a few may be close to right, none exactly right.
I always knew I had a relationship with God. But I wasn't sure God had a relationship with me.
Powerful is our need to be known, really known by ourselves and others, even if only for a moment.
Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
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