Do you have photographic memory? Our guess is no. Although memory seems like a straight-forward thing, our actual memories usually end up as filtered and edited as your best friend's Instagram. If you don't believe us, then check out the evidence in "Death in the Woods." As the story goes on, we start to realize that the narrator's tale might not be accurate in the traditional sense and is instead shaped by his own feelings, experiences, and opinions. It might not be 100% true, but memory rarely is.
Questions About Memory and the Past
- Why has this story stuck out in the narrator's memory?
- In your opinion, how much of the narrator's story is factually true? Explain.
- How have the narrator's life experiences shaped his retelling of the story?
- What is the "point" of the story, according to the narrator?
Chew on This
Most of "Death in the Woods" isn't true: the narrator simply saw a dead woman in the forest one day and created the rest of the story out of his own memories.
Although the narrator's story isn't true in the traditional sense, it's truthful in the sense that the scenes described by the narrator all happened—they're just not necessarily connected.