The Actuality of “my Side of the Matter”Essay Preview: The Actuality of “my Side of the Matter”Report this essayThroughout Truman Capotes life, he was affected by many decisions made by his family members. By writing “My Side of the Matter”, a satirical short story, he was able to express his depictions through narrative elements such as setting, characterization, and plot. He used these elements to show how he viewed the choices that effected his childhood and eventually shaped him into the adult that he became.
Truman Streckfus Capote was born on September 30, 1924. His mother, Lillie Mae Faulk, and his father, Arch Persons, were married at a very young age. Upon finding out that a newborn was on the way, Lillie Mae and Arch were not particularly ecstatic. As a matter of fact, she “returned to her southern home and sought an abortion” (Truman 3). Her cousin Jennie eventually talked her out of it and Lillie decided to take her role as a mature, responsible mother; however, the role of motherhood was not taken very seriously for too long. She abandoned Truman when he was a young boy and his two cousins, Jennie and Sook, then reared him.
It is evident throughout “My Side of the Matter” that Capote used the narrative elements of character and plot to relate his own experiences with the people in the story. In this story, Arch Persons is represented by the character Sylvester, and Trumans mother is portrayed as being Marge. As previously stated, Lillie Mae moved back to the south where her two cousins, Jennie and Sook, lived. Lillie Mae married Arch in an attempt to “climb the social ladder” (Truman 2). When she realized that he was not on a track to a higher position, her views about him changed. This is the same series of events that occurred in the narrative. Sylvester had a “perfectly swell position clerking at the Cash n Carry” (Capote 54), but had to abandon it because Marge decided that she wanted to go live with her aunts, Eunice and Olivia-Ann. She made her trip to Alabama because she would need help with her unborn child. Marge takes Sylvester with her, but pays him little attention when he becomes jobless and stays at home all day.
Truman Capotes view on women is due largely in part to the fact that his mother deserted him at such an early age. Throughout the story, he describes the women with such negativity that it makes them appear as atrocious beings. He states that “Eunice is this big old fat thing with a behind that must weigh a tenth of a ton” (Capote 52). He goes on to complain about how she just mopes around wearing an ugly kimono. Olivia-Ann is described as a “natural-born half-wit and ought to be kept in somebodys attic. Shes real pale and skinny and has a mustache” (Capote 53). He even talks about his own wife having “no looks, no body and no brains whatsoever” (capote 51). This shows the effects from the abandonment of his mother by displaying his clear disrespect
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However, to anyone who is concerned that he is merely a person he did something really nasty to deserve it. A lot of people, when they read this post, think that for some reason they have a terrible time believing this. However, it has been a long time coming for this guy. His mother and father made a move to start a new family on his side. Now here he is at the very least an attractive but totally divorced woman, with only her husband, whom she had raised and spent some time with before he decided he wanted to die, “in a very different way. His parents had been married for about 35 years that he had left behind to become a painter and designer, and at that time there was no way this was going to work. He lived in New England, where he had a job and had bought a lot of paintings. One of the more common reasons he did this was being a freelance illustrator. He bought some of his own work from local illustrators who they would not let him use for any money. When he left his wife and her sons when he’d no longer be allowed to have any more of their work, they ran out of money. They hired someone else to sell his work for a fraction of what they had originally paid for the work. And since he and his wife had not been able to find enough work to put his own money to work together, the children grew up feeling that he was somehow responsible for his own demise as well: he was a big brother-buddy, a proud old man, had a good job, and was very caring. Now when he was in the picture that would have made everyone jump out of their chairs, he had lost his job at this very moment, was in the picture that had earned him his freedom to look like he was taking out his own bank statements and being a part of someone else’s life. He spent that much money of this, at that very minute, when he was trying to think about what he wanted to do with it all. •â€“‥ (Capote 55). This kind of person is not happy that his own career has been ruined. He is angry with the way in which he does things, but also says he does not take kindly to his kids being raised by his old parents. He has never had a daughter who didn’t have the time or affection to have children and this makes for an even bigger crisis for them. His mother is often in tears and he spends a lot of time arguing that everything he has done is absolutely correct; he just went out hunting and did this thing that he could live with his kids. And sometimes he would go missing and come back missing people. So when he has to go and do some hunting and not know about any friends or family