Jack, the protagonist, lies throughout the entire memoir, as a means of re-inventing himself and portraying himself in a way that he believes is more likeable and respectable than who he is truly is. Jack, when telling these lies, often becomes confused between his dishonesty and his reality, with the lines between the two becoming blurred. For example, when Jack’s vice-principal in Seattle accuses Jack of writing an obscene word on the bathroom wall, Jack writes ‘I’d spent half an hour with the vice-principal and had become completely convinced of my own innocence.’ Similarly, when writing his letters of application for scholarships at prestige prep schools, Jack falsely describes himself as a ‘straight-A student…an Eagle Scout, and a powerful swimmer.’ In reality, Jack is none of these things however when writing these letters, Jack describes himself as ‘being full of stifled truth’ and says that he believes more in the words he is …show more content…
Overly optimistic and hopeful, Rosemary envisages a stable home life with Dwight as a reliable father-figure for Jack, leading to her accepting Dwight’s marriage proposal. When Jack discusses Dwight’s proposal with his mother, Jack describes his mother’s words as sounding like ‘the last lie we tell ourselves before hurling ourselves over the brink.’ In this instance, Jack decides to remain quiet about Dwight’s abusive and vindictive behaviour whilst Jack has been living in Chinook and agrees with his mother’s optimistic remarks, for her sake. Despite many obvious failings on Dwight’s behalf to act as a responsible father to Jack, Rosemary continues to cling to her idealistic version of the American Dream, rather than admitting to herself the truth of Dwight’s violent nature. It is not until Dwight violently attacks Jack and holds a knife to her throat that Rosemary comes to the realisation of who Dwight truly is and snaps out of her delusory