Memoir or Novel

We were introduced in the last class of whether the book we are reading is a memoir or a novel. We discussed this topic in class which led me to read the book more attentively. After class I decided to start over. As i began to read, I kept the question in my head, "is the book a memoir or a novel?"

Swofford said, "thus what follows is neither true nor false but what I know." A memoir is defined to be a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation. It is also defined as an account of one's personal life and experiences; autobiography. Even though Swafford goes on to say that he remembers these events, he demonstrates no chronological placement of the "facts". The fact that he is unable to keep these statements in chronological order shows that they may not have actually occurred.