I Know This Much Is True Critical Analysis

1476 words 6 pages
I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE “There are two young men lost in the woods… I may never find one of the young men. He has been gone so long. But as for the other, I may have better luck.” (284-285). This statement was made by Dr. Patel, a psychologist. It shows a accurate summarization of human life. People become lost and distracted by anger. It is impossible to live a peaceful and happy life when individuals cannot forgive those who have hurt them. Forgiving others will lead to the path of happiness, but to truly be content one must forgive oneself. One has to be true and honest with oneself to be truly happy. This is the basic theme of Wally Lamb’s novel I Know This Much is True. Dominick Birdsey is a man with many issues. He is angry at …show more content…

Dominick was always burdened with taking care of his twin but once he developed schizophrenia that responsibility became even greater and more complicated. He felt responsible for Thomas’ illness. Dominick was mad at Thomas because of his residual jealousy and stress of Tomas’ current illness. Dominick had to learn to forgive Tomas in order to be happy. Dominick felt that he and Ray contributed to Tomas’ illness and he was angry because of it. “He bullied him to death. We both did. We were teammates, you and me. Remember? The Birdseye wars. A fight to the finish… because we’d helped him hack off that hand of his. Didn’t we Ray?” (774). Ray had been minorly abusive when Dominick and Thomas were growing up and Dominick had a great grudge against him for it. Dominick felt not only that it hurt him but that it somehow helped cause Thomas’ schizophrenia. On top of all that Dominick still felt guilty himself. He felt that he helped Ray to corrupt Thomas’ mind through their teasing. Dominick needed to come to terms with himself and Ray and learn to forgive in order to me happy.
Dominick never had liked his stepfather, Ray, partially because he wasn’t his “real” father. He had always been mad at his mother for never telling him who his real father was. Dominick felt like he couldn’t move on and be happy with his life until he discovered the identity of his biological father. He finally asked Ray. “Did you… did she ever tell you who he was? Our father?

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