Breakfast at Tiffany's

Stories We Tell gave insight as to how everyone’s truth is different, and how these truths affect people differently. First, I want to write the disclaimer that I’m talking about personal truths here, like in Diane’s story, which affect only those involved directly or indirectly.

Harry, the biological father of the filmmaker Sarah, asks ‘Can you get at the truth?’ And answers it with ‘I think you can get very close to it, but you have to limit it to those who were involved in the events’. This quote illustrates how truth is malleable. Harry laments that Diane is no longer around to give her side of the story, which is a problem as she is one of the only two people involved in the events. This makes the truth even more limited, to only Harry’s view. Truth is subjective as it is affected by memory. You could even say the truth isn’t real. Ask several people to recount an event and they are likely to all say something different. I think a better way of putting it is that everyone’s truth is different. When reading about philosophy I found that the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras believed different things can be true for different people (Nagle, p.10). For example, it can be true that the wind is cold to someone but not to someone else. Truth is relative to our experiences (p.10). So, you can’t get right at the truth, even with the original participants, because everyone sees it differently.

The Harry in question

His twin brother, Bach.
Am I the only one who sees the resemblance? Yes. Okay.

Harry says that by giving everyone’s story equal weight you ‘Can’t ever touch bottom with anything’. This relates back to everyone’s truth being different. We all do have different truths, which means that if you ask several people for their truth you’re going to get several different answers. How are you going to get close to what really happened if you’re getting four, five, even more versions of a story? This is why you need to stick to people involved, and why the truth can never truly be found. If you leave people out when seeking your truth, put some people’s truths above others’, you definitely won’t find the truth. But if you include them all, it becomes ‘Woolly’, as Harry says. Whose truth is the most… truthful?

Harry does say that everyone should get an equal voice. If people were affected by the event, they deserve their say. This is something I agree with – we may never get to the actual truth, but one thing we can determine to be true is how events affect people.

Let’s look at how the events affected Michael. I want to talk about him because his reaction made me happy. When Sarah revealed what she had discovered about her true parentage, she asked Michael if it makes a difference. Michael responds ‘It doesn't make any difference at all to you and I in terms of our relationship'. This shows his truth – Sarah is his daughter. This is opposed to the scientific ‘truth’, and definitely isn’t objectively true in any case. It’s an unfortunate case that often, in our society, men reject children who aren’t biologically theirs. For example, I will link a Quora answer below where a man rejected his child after finding out he wasn’t the father. I say his child because he later accepts the boy as his and loves him as much as his biological son. All of this is just me trying to say: When it comes to (personal) truths like this, how we feel defines the narrative.

The truth is that the actual truth can never be found. However, how events affect people is definitely real, and should be listened to. Again, the disclaimer here: I am referring to personal truths and not trying to argue that you can override scientific truths with feelings, like anti-vax movements.

 Here's the Quora article I was referring to: 

https://www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-found-out-your-kid-wasn-t-yours-by-getting-a-paternity-test-If-so-what-did-you-do-and-did-you-stay-in-the-child-s-life

References:

Nagel, J., 2014. Knowledge. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.10-11.