Patrick James_Response

[Sondra Perl]

#578

In her essay “Ella: Family Stories, Family Secrets,” Rebecca Blevins Faery negotiates with a nonnegotiable: the fixed mystery of the past. As she looks closely at the evolution of her family, she proposes possibilities and theories to fill in the gaps of oral history, all the while trying to dismantle the enigma of her great-grandmother’s reason for abandoning her husband and child. “Why she left, where she went,” Faery states, “are questions I’ve asked myself again and again about this woman whose genes I carry within me, from whom I have perhaps inherited some traits” (122). Within the context of this mystery, Faery considers factors such as gender, race, and socio-economics, complicating a one-dimensional reading of Ella’s choice.

Consequently, there is no singular, concrete explanation for what Ella has done. Her motivation and character remain secret, obfuscated by the heavy weight of the past. But more importantly, it is Faery’s exercise in turning backward, lingering with the shadows of history, that becomes the most salient aspect of her essay. With each theory she proposes, Faery deepens the implications of Ella’s choice, locating her actions within a complex, interconnected web of forces operating beyond the agency of a single woman. As the reader considers the plausibility and ramifications of each theory, the ugly realities of oppression become even more pertinent, more weighty.

As Faery combs through this complex network of personal anecdotes intertwined with the monolithic force of history, her writing voice troubles the confidence of factual accuracy. Thereupon, a question surfaces: is the past as nonnegotiable as it seems? “Here is what I know,” Faery reassures herself, “She was very beautiful. Her hair was the blackest black, and so were her eyes. She was born Ella Seagroves in Huntsville, Alabama, probably in the mid-1880s” (116). Secrets and secrecy play a significant role in this personal excavation—which is to say, that racism, sexual taboo, and shame cloud the lens through which Faery examines the past. “Perhaps [Will’s] mixed-race identity is part of what moved [Ella] to reject her husband and child” Faery suggests, “to flee and to leave her child behind. Or maybe she had a secret of her own” (126).

Faery’s essay manages to walk the fine line of what is unknown and unknown; and within this liminal space, her writing voice opens up possibilities for Ella’s life, a rhetorical move that is perhaps more interested in questioning Ella’s experience than in answering the mystery of her disappearance. This writing uncovers the past through an act of the imagination, and within this mode of interrogation, the currency of facts becomes shifty, complicated, and perhaps more unreliable than we would like to admit.

• This topic was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Sondra Perl.

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#597

Patrick, I wouldn’t of thought this narrative as being unreliable. But maybe that’s because I feel like she gave herself an out from the beginning, when she said she didn’t know Ella’s story, and that she was using this space to find some options. I will say though, it raises questions of where the line is when you’re using personal narrative to push a larger maybe political message or agenda. This story, because it is bred from a scant amount of facts allows the writer to delve into deeper issues than family history, or discovery writing. But it does run the risk of muddling the lines of fact and fiction to an extent that may not be ethical for memoir writing.

[Sondra Perl]

#605

I think Faery’s use of conjecture, offering a voice for the silent, absent Ella, a great method for this narrative. The certainty of the narrative is that Ella left the family. The operative word is “left”. While oral history states, she “abandoned” her family that is pure speculation. When Faery quotes of family members we gather that there may have been underlying causes for Ella’s disappearance. This glaring wide open space of speculation, lends room for many ideas and reasons to come forth.

Faery is asserting her family history of both facts and the possibilities of Ella’s life; a woman, for whatever reason, or numerous reasons left her son and husband, but still existed nonetheless.

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