About Memoir Madness: Notes on Narrative Threads (Flashbacks, Other Voices, and Dramatization)
Primary
Narrative Thread
Christmas Eve 1968 to May 1969. Although the
prologue is from the perspective of Jennifer Semple Siegel’s current persona – thus,
mostly past tense – the primary narrative thread (the bulk of the memoir),
recreates Jennifer Semple’s 18-year-old voice through the present tense.
The goal: to place the reader in the middle
of that volatile time and into the life of a rebellious teen –
To show readers what their grandmothers were
doing back in the day – well, perhaps not all grandmas, but many of them.
The writer incorporates other narrative
approaches as well:
Secondary
Narrative Thread
August 18 - 30, 2004: Beginning in
Chapter 11, Jennifer’s youthful voice is interrupted by Jennifer the adult
attempting to make sense of her past.
August 18, 2004: as Jennifer ponders
a return journey to Cherokee, she addresses some issues she had not really
addressed in the primary thread: her unhealthy relationship with Stoney, her
drug-dealing boyfriend, and guilt over a “Dear John” letter she had written in
November 1968 to a fiancé, a Marine stationed in Vietnam.
August 29: after experiencing some
anxiety, Jennifer decides to make the journey to Cherokee to take pictures and
remember.
August 30: Jennifer describes her
return to Cherokee, Iowa, as a sort of catharsis. While there, she experiences
past emotions, feelings, visions, and smells. She speculates about the current
incarnation of Cherokee.
She also contemplates living abroad for the
upcoming year (2004 - 2005) and reflects on the convention of letter-writing as
a tenuous connection between long-distance lovers.
These intermittent present tense passages
include Chapters 11, 26, 35, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 68, 70, 75, 77, 79, 88, and
“Epilogue: A Final Update...” (2012).
In terms of length, these passages are short
interruptions but important in that they offer a distant perspective of my past
and a glimpse of young Jennifer’s future.
Flashbacks
to Fall 1968
Although these Hollywood events occur in
close proximity to the primary narrative thread, the main focus of the memoir
begins on Christmas Eve 1968. Yet, some revealing and important events have occurred
before that time. These flashbacks, interspersed throughout the book, are
written in the past tense because, for young Jennifer, they were well into the
past.
For clarity, most of the Fall 1968
flashbacks have been afforded their own short chapters, which are interwoven
contextually (thus, not necessarily in chronological order) throughout the
primary narrative: Chapters 3, 9, 15, 17, 19, 25, 27, 31, 33, 37, 39, 42, 66,
72, 76, 82, and 84.
Childhood
Flashbacks
In addition, three flashbacks to Jennifer’s childhood
– short italicized, present tense, dream-like passages – are included within
the primary thread, not in their own chapters.
These passages include a near-death
experience at age six (in Chapter 34), her younger sister Robin being taken
away from the Semple family (in Chapter 46), and a nightmare, at age four,
about bed-wetting and snakes (in Chapter 85). These memories tie in with events
occurring in the primary thread.
Perspective
of Jennifer’s Childhood Guardians
Harley D. Semple, Jennifer’s grandfather,
passed away in 1974, Olive Semple, grandmother, in 1987. Therefore, for their
first-person narratives, Jennifer has referred to interview summaries contained
in her hospital records – interviews conducted and summarized by her psychiatrist
(and other hospital personnel).
Jennifer has also relied on her personal
knowledge about the people who raised her. “Their voices, which I have
recreated, are what I remember,” Jennifer notes, adding, “During this time in
my life, I was harsh and judgmental toward my grandparents; as an adult looking
back, I owed them an opportunity to tell their side of my story.”
These short present tense narratives have
been placed in their own chapters, intermittently occurring between December
31, 1968, and February 19, 1969; these include Chapters 5 (Harley), 7 (Harley),
13 (Harley), 21 (Harley), 22 (Olive), 29 (Olive), 43 (Olive), 45 (Olive), 47
(Olive), 49 (Olive), 52 (Harley), 55 (Olive), and 56 (Harley).
Dramatization
In Chapter 54-Four, Jennifer has included a
dramatized scenario between her grandfather and Opal Casey, the Sioux City
police matron, as they draw up the papers required for her court hearing,
ultimately resulting in her involuntary commitment.
This dramatic scene, complete with recreated
dialogue, has been based on her actual court papers, in which Harley Semple’s name,
as “Informant,” has been scratched out and replaced with Opal Casey’s name.
“I feel confident that the gist of this
dramatization is accurate, given the information presented in the informant
report trumped up without my consent or knowledge.” Jennifer says of her
decision to include this short scene. “It took me 33 years to muster up the
courage to request my mental health records and another two years to act on
them. I found them quite telling.”
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