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The Truth of Fiction

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The Truth of Fiction
“This self-encounter which I consider the major source of the potency and success of beneficent fictions may be defined also as imaginative identification. Things are then not merely happening before us; they are happening by the power and force of imaginative identification, to us. We not only see; we suffer alongside the hero and are branded with the same mark of ‘punishment and poverty,’ to use Tutuola’s familiar phrase. (Truth of Fiction, 144)”
According to the author’s statement and the interpretation of this passage, the force and power behind our emotions and imagination makes things seem vivid and alive to us, even if they are surreal. Our imagination and interpretation of what we see or read makes us relate to what we see. Like watching a movie, when we see the hero or heroine get shot or going through some kind of problems, the force and power behind our imagination makes us relate strongly to the character and even drives us almost to the point of crying for the hero/heroine. According to the author, things don’t just happen in front us or before us, our imagination makes the situation seems so powerful that it feels as if we’re the one going through the pain, not the actor/actress in the movie or hero/heroine in the book. Our imagination is very powerful and it makes surreal things seem real. Even though we know it’s just a movie and it’s not real, we still suffer along with the person in the movie. This is not because the person playing the character is a good actor or actress, according to Achebe, it is because of the force and power behind our imagination that makes us relate to the situation. Personally, my interpretation of the passage is that our imagination drives our emotions. One’s imagination is really powerful and sometimes our imaginations run wild with us. For instance, in “Pursuit of Happiness” the main character in the movie, played by Will Smith, invested his family’s savings on expensive x-ray scanners, but wasn’t able to sell the scanners because no one was interested in buying them. He became poor and as a result his wife left him and their son (Jaden Smith). They lost their apartment and he and his son became homeless. They slept in a hotel for like a night and two and then on the streets, restrooms, and once a twice in a homeless shelter. The movie was very heart-wrenching and was based on a true story. Usually I don’t cry while watching movies, but when I saw this movie, I was moved to the point of tears because of the things he had to go through in order to get his son just lunch or dinner. Sometimes our imagination has nothing to do with our emotions, but other times they play a huge role in our emotions. Sometimes it seems that we control our emotion, but in reality, our imaginations is the source. Sometimes when men say something to say to women about their body, the woman’s imagination runs wild and she says something like, “Do you think I’m fat or something?” Just like when women sometimes talk to their close guy friend, some boyfriends’ imagination runs with him and they start questioning the woman, saying things like, “who was that?”, “It seems like you’re more than friends?” We let our imaginations control our emotions in almost everything we do. It’s part of who we are, but we can also control it if we want to. When we ask certain questions, even if we are given a direct answer, it might not be to our satisfaction. So we make up our own conclusions about the situation and that makes us express our emotions, that might range from anger to happiness to disappointment. And all this, is a result of our imaginations . The root of our emotions and sometimes troubles is our imagination, which we have to learn to control, instead of letting it control us.

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