Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

Image: "Feild" by Robin Renee

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure is the memoir of Dorothy Allison, a women who grow up in small rural southern town where people had pre-convieved notions about what they would accomplish in life and who they would become. She describes the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather, as well as the perception of women within the town itself. She uses her family's stories as well as her own to express what her life had been like. The book is loaded with pictures, as well as little "Two or three things I know for sure..." statements that reflect the main ideas that she is attempting to portray.


I personally found myself shocked at many elements of this book, especially the way women in this town were treated. I found it heartbreaking when she first shows us a picture of her mother when she was a very young and beautiful woman, and then shows us her image several years later. Her mothers transformation was horrifying, she had aged so much beyond her years, I can only attribute this to the life style these woman have to endure. It really is sad to me to see this beautiful girl who looked like she had everything going for her, and then to see what she had faded into. I think this was one of the many motivations that made Dorothy want to be able to escape from this life style, and be able to express herself elsewhere. She also mentions her aunt as a major inspiration to her, who told her at a young age that she could be what and who she wanted to be. I think she was fortunate to have a female role model as her, otherwise she might have turned out differently.


The book does also sympathize with the men of the town and does not completely villainies them. She expresses that they in a sense are trapped too, and uses her uncles as examples. She describes that they way that men act towards women are both a product of what they have always known, and what they are over compensating for because they really do not have much else. The only man she really condemns is her step father, but this is completely understandable because he physically, sexually, and verbally abused her. She even says at one point later in her life when she was shooting a gun she wishes she could have been firing at him. I find at amazing that I can both sympathize with her, and admire her strength for not allowing her abuse to define her. She did not write this book to look for pity, rather she wrote it for herself as a way of expressing and dealing with the emotions in her life. This book is inspirational for any woman, and even man who has the feeling that they are trapped in their life and can never aspire to become anything greater. There is always an escape, and there is always hope as long as you do not let others define you, but you choose to define yourself.