Valentino has two types of truth, the first being factual, and the second being known. Most of his stories are based on known truths. Does this mean he isn't a reliable source? I don't think it does. Growing up, all he ever experienced was friends and family being killed in front of him, dying in their sleep from starvation and dehydration, and boys being carried away by lions or hyenas. He assumes his friend is dead because he has seen this happen to other loved ones. This is why he doesn't need to
check
on him. One of the examples my group used to support that his knowledge holds true is in Chapter 1 when Valentino is getting robbed by Powder and Tonya, he admits to himself that he "has survived many
oppressions, but have never fought with a man standing in front of me" (9). The way we interpreted this is that the oppression he's faced are his known truths. When Powder is standing in front of him, this conflict is present, thus being factual. I trust his narrative because I think that what he's endured in the past is enough to believe him. Not only that, but I've done the research to know he is being truthful. Another blogger had mentioned that we are moved by watching the Lost Boys more than we are by reading about them. I think this is another reason why I trust him; in class we saw them going through the situations Valentino has described to us.
Valentino has two types of truth, the first being factual, and the second being known. Most of his stories are based on known truths. Does this mean he isn't a reliable source? I don't think it does. Growing up, all he ever experienced was friends and family being killed in front of him, dying in their sleep from starvation and dehydration, and boys being carried away by lions or hyenas. He assumes his friend is dead because he has seen this happen to other loved ones. This is why he doesn't need to check
on him. One of the examples my group used to support that his knowledge holds true is in Chapter 1 when Valentino is getting robbed by Powder and Tonya, he admits to himself that he "has survived many oppressions, but have never fought with a man standing in front of me" (9). The way we interpreted this is that the oppression he's faced are his known truths. When Powder is standing in front of him, this conflict is present, thus being factual. I trust his narrative because I think that what he's endured in the past is enough to believe him. Not only that, but I've done the research to know he is being truthful. Another blogger had mentioned that we are moved by watching the Lost Boys more than we are by reading about them. I think this is another reason why I trust him; in class we saw them going through the situations Valentino has described to us.
I agree that Valentino is factual and that these experiences actually did happen to him. But I think that if he wants his stories to be taken as fact that he should have something credible to perhaps back him up. This may be why his novel is considered fiction as opposed to non fiction.
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