When comparing Augustine’s Confessions and Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, I hands down enjoy Ellison’s book more. This is not to suggest that I am not a fan of nonfictional memoirs, but I did not enjoy the way in which Augustine presented his life story in this manner. For me personally, I was not able to retain many of the details discussed in Confessions and only took away broad themes from the memoir. Already, I have had the opposite experience with Ellison. The way in which this fictional story is told leaves a lasting impact on me. Therefore, I argue that the genre distinction of a book can have a significant impact on the reader and what he or she gets out of the reading. If the reader is not able to remember important passages or ideas mentioned in the book, then what is the point?
A reader should be able to take away an important overlying theme after reading a book, fiction or nonfiction, but I was not able to do that with Augustine as much as I feel I should have. I also believe that Augustine’s memoirs would have been much different if he had written it in a fictional way. There would have been less questioning of his ideas because they would be not taken as literally. However, that is definitely not what Augustine was going for which is why, for his purpose, I think it was wise to write it in the form of a memoir.
On the other hand, for Ellison I think that his fictional depiction works well for his story, at least for me so far. I am able to follow the story with him in addition to understanding the broader message he tries to portray with each situation The Invisible Man encounters. If Ellison had written this novel as a memoir, it would run the risk of not being as easily understood or as easily relatable to the general public.
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