In her opinion, believing what one hears is, in a way, synonymous to believing the truth. This brings us back to the quote on page 94 where it seems that Allison's words are almost mocking. Every time they did so, her mother's stories about the photos' subjects would change in ways either subtle or dramatic, allowing the truth itself to transform and be redefined. Allison makes this point very clear when she writes about the time she spent with her mother, going through family photos. While her argument may seem unduly epistemological, it is only meant to highlight the way people see the world around them- through the eyes and analyses of others. All you have to do is believe the truth" (94).
The last line of the memoir captures this concept perfectly, it reads: "I can tell you anything. In this way, stories resemble the truth- or as close to the truth as one can get. This is indicated by the way she suggests that, while there is an untold story, it is a story nonetheless. People's experiences and beliefs can all be summed up by tales which are then layered upon each other like bricks in wall. Stories, for her, are the building blocks of social life.
It is in these quotes, and the passage that follows, that we can derive her overall meaning. Behind the story you hear is the one I wish I could make you hear" (Allison 39). She states very plainly in the middle of her narrative, " Behind the story I tell is the one I don't. Where do stories begin and what purpose do they serve? Are they meant as distractions for children at bedtime, or are do they weave threads of both truth and fiction into an easily comprehended pattern? Whatever their meaning, Dorothy Allison makes a point of defending them and the art of storytelling in her memoir, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.
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