The Reality of Truth & Beauty

One's perception of the truth in beauty is a valuable piece of life in today's world. Beauty takes control of one's life to the effect that one's mental and physical status becomes a deadly issue. Ann Patchett's novel Truth & Beauty, is a non-fiction piece about a friendship and how the truth in beauty is perceived throughout Patchett and Lucy Grealy's lives. Therefore, the reason Ann Patchett has entitled her book, Truth & Beauty, is simply because there is no other title that could possibly describe the novels in-depth outlook on the truth in beauty that Ann and Lucy's friendship endured throughout their lives.

The world can be a scary place to live in today, especially for someone who is not looked upon as a beautiful person. Lucy Grealy went through a dramatic childhood which led her to struggle with the misfortune of being a physically beautiful person. Moreover, because of the fact that Lucy is not a beautiful person on the outside, she continuously goes through numerous operations in her life which eventually lead to her death. In Lucy world, the truth about her lack of beauty is that she would never find love. Though Lucy is surrounded by the comforting love of her friends, the lack of having that soul mate in her life drives her to the effect of depression. Depression seems to be a big part of Lucy's life and though Ann is always there to comfort her when needed, Lucy's depression keeps pushing her towards more surgeries. As a result of Lucy's surgeries, she becomes addicted to drugs. Though Ann and many of Lucy's other close friends try to push her away from the drugs, the depression and drugs take over her life.

There are many truths in life that one may endure and one can take these truths and perceive them as they may. In addition, Patchett's novel shows different truths and how Lucy and herself dealt with them. The one truth that meant a lot to me in Patchett's book, is that your true friends love you unconditionally. Moreover, one can encounter endless acts of love that may fall apart, but true friendships last forever, despite beauty. It's the beauty on the inside and not the outside that should matter most in life and the ones who stick with you throughout the ruff patches despite your physically complex, that's the love that one should cherish the most in life. However, Lucy didn't agree with this truth and instead lost all love