In Margaret Awtood's "True Stories," she tells the reader not to ask for the "true stories." Her setting is a beach where the her feet press into the sand and the prints are soon full of salt water and erased. "The true story was lost" suggests that no stories can really be true any more and are lost to the erosion of time. At the end of the day, the tide always comes in and erases the remains of what happened on the beach. The "true stories" in their purest form are "vicious / and multiple / and untrue." What we have to lean on is the general history of the story and what it meant at the time. Every day we walk among the remains of stories that will never be validated.
Sexton humorously tells the "true story" of Cinderella where she seems to reprimand the other stories for leaving out this one. The difference here is that this "true story" ends happily ever after which would not have been the case.
I really enjoyed your analysis. I was caught up in the difference types of stories that can be told, and why the truth is often to gruesome to be desired. I believe that this was the point that Atwood's poem depicted because she asks why would anyone want the true story? Kids certainly do not want the true Cinderella story since it is a little too gruesome for them.
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