Talking Story

Last class, Francis brought up the question of truth. Truth is a tricky little thing; it is subject to individual perspectives and experiences. My truth may be completely different from someone else's. Our past experiences shape our identity; thus, two people from different backgrounds may view the same event in an entirely different way. This is a struggle that is faced by many people, but Jeannie Barroga's play, Talk-Story, specifically addresses the differences of race. Her story is populated by people of color: Dee is a Filipina-American; her friend Clara is African American. We see a clear rapport between Dee and Clara. They understand each other, as women and as members of the racial minority. Dee's relationship with Lon fails because he does not understand her frustration and preoccupation with her heritage. As a member of the racial majority, the idea of racial tension is just that: an idea. It is not real for Lon, in a way that it is real for Dee. He did not see little incidents as being worth fussed over because, for him, they are isolated and unimportant. For Dee, these little incidents represent a generation's fight to be accepted as Americans. Every time she is slighted, it is a much bigger deal because it simply should not happen. Thus, the question of truth: is racial discrimination real, or does it only exist in people's heads? Does it matter?

Talk-Story raises another interesting point regarding the question of truth: is the truth about the past really that important, or is it what you make of it that is more crucial? Towards the end of the play, Dee is horrified to learn that her father's talk-stories have been greatly embellished, perhaps even made up. As a writer, being truthful is critical. She has put his oral stories into print, and the printed word has always been regarded as being true. If her father's stories are not true, then Dee has packaged lies to be taken as the truth. But Frank tells her that stories are armor, are what makes people stronger. Pedro begs her to remember them as heroes. It seems that, for Frank and Pedro, the truth is whatever that needs to be told to help people survive. Like the Oracle in The Matrix, Frank simply tells Dee what she needs to hear, not necessarily what she would consider to be true.

The question of identity that Dee struggles with is one that I feel that many of us can relate to. Yes, she is Filipina; but she is also American. Lon sees her as being white, but she knows that she is not. And yet, she cannot say that she is Filipina, either. Her identity is split between the two, just as many of us struggle to reconcile our American and Other identities into one, cohesive identity. But if the truth can be multi-faceted, can't our identities be as well? But how is one person to manage a multi-identity?