"Write as if everyone you know is dead."

     For many, I think that the idea of writing as though everyone you know was dead would be a very hard thing to do. The main reason that this would be so hard is that simply, hopefully, not everyone you know is actually dead and they may actually end up reading whatever you wrote. One of the prime examples, from McCurdy's memoir, of writing as though someone were dead, was with her father who was almost entirely nonexistent throughout her childhood. This is extremely apparent as the father is mentioned in her memoir only a handful of times and when he is mentioned it is always in an uncomfortable situation where he is the background character. While reading you notice that the father is still alive to read about how Jennette viewed him while sharing that view not only to the world but also to the father himself. This is where the difficulty in writing about people's flaws comes into play as the writer is battling with the conscience that there is, in fact, a chance that someone may inevitably end up reading about how you negatively perceived them. This type of writing, while at first glance seems to be nothing but hurtful, is actually much more impactful than just writing with roundabout methods and words. What this type of writing does is it allow the reader to connect with the thoughts and narrative that the author is telling. In the setting of Hollywood, there is a tremendous number of personas within the film-making world and Jennette's memoir further shows how she was able to notice the flaws behind the masks. Jennette can show not only what it is like to live behind these masks but also what it is like when you can see right through them without the needless roundabout descriptions and ideas.

    Writing negatively about the dead is often largely upsetting as when you do it, it is simply disrespectful for many reasons. However, as Jennette explores, sometimes it is necessary. People often do not know the whole story and because of that people often only hear and remember small glimpses into the deceased's life. Sometimes it is better that way, as in the long run nothing bad will happen if no one does know if it gets bottled up. In other cases what even the dead have done can still haunt in the present and the best course of action for dealing with it is venting, revealing the truth behind the curtain, the truth behind the persona everyone knew. Jennette writes this memoir, not because she just wants the public to know, but because she couldn't stand the persona that everyone knew her mom through being compared with the real person, the real terror, that she had to go through. In the end, writing about the dead and writing about someone as though they were dead can both be dishonoring and liberating.