John Davis Interpretation: Nothing but the Truth

Listen up, New Hampshire. All their auto plates read "Live free or die." Well, something died, because this is what is going on there right now! Here it is. The whole story. Right in the morning news. I'm just quoting. "A tenth grader was suspended from his local school because he sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner' during the school's morning exercises. The boy, Philip Malloy, who wished to sing in the spirit of patriotism, was then forced to remain home alone, since both his parents work. English teacher Margaret Narwin, who brought about the suspension, maintains the boy was making a nuisance of himself." (pg 107)

As the above excerpt attests, Avi is able to incorporate a variety of documentary-like narrative styles into Nothing but the Truth, including memos, diary entries and letters. Conveying information in a widely accepted factual style, like this talk radio transcript, the author is able to critically engage his readers by getting them to question the legitimacy of the information they are exposed to on a daily basis. A complicated dichotomy is developed for the audience as Philips story progresses, allowing them to compare the legitimacy of the information being presented to them through primary sources and the various points of view they are allowed through multiple points of view. Ultimately this leaves readers to question the larger implications of that which they accept as the truth: who provides the whole story? Is it reliable and unbiased? Like the opinions expressed by Jake Barlow in his talk radio show, the truth is often portrayed as an ideal that is clearly identifiable and unquestionable. The events in the novel, however, show that the truth can often be a nuanced concept that is frequently illusive and complicated. A passage like the one I selected shows the way that Avi is promoting the assertion that truth is often individually established and can be distorted or even lost over time. The short press release about Philip and Ms. Narwin drastically simplifies the story and its events as they happened. Yet Barlow expresses the idea in a public forum that it is the whole story. Another problematic result reflected by this passage is that of quoting, especially by reliable sources such as the news. As the characters of Giffen and Seymour show in the novel, the media is often a social tool that can be mutilated for political purposes and gains. Such manipulation needs to be questioned for underlying meanings and motivations. On a deeper level, such hidden agendas could be a more refined version of the truth that the novels title alludes to. A final point that this passage of Jake Barlows exposes is that of accountability. One of the main points of contention within the novel is that of responsibility and how is intimately related to ownership of ones actions and responses. Barlow is largely held unaccountable for his false reporting, and serves as a magnified example of the way that the perpetuation of false information can often go unresolved because of the consequences that could have on social image and power. The administrators within the Harrison school district also are threatened by this exposure. Through multiple examples, Avi is able to communicate that the truth is often manipulated and distorted for political reasons, leaving one to question if the truth is that which is most widely accepted? Or merely an impossible, objective absolute that may never be discovered.