Although this seems like the best choice at the time, it disables Lucy from addressing her own emotions. She pushes her daughter to remain strong and stoic. In particular, Lucy’s mother struggles to deal with these events and handles them the only way she knows how. This truth dawns on her with a slow shock and she begins to avoid seeing her reflection in the mirror, going out in public, or doing anything that reminds her of her own disfigurement.ĭuring this period, Lucy must also face the fallout from her diagnosis within her own family.

Along with this realization, she gains enough self-consciousness to realize that other people find her ugly. Lucy seems unaware of the danger she is in at first, but after two years of treatments and several unsuccessful plastic surgeries, she comes to terms with the full weight of her diagnoses. She undergoes plastic surgery to fix the disfigurement but it is largely unsuccessful. She is unable to go out in public without enduring the cruel taunts of other children and the stares of complete strangers. These surgeries, while successful in treating her cancer, involve removing part of her jaw, and leave her with a disfigured face. With only a 5% survival rate, Lucy begins the first in a series of surgeries and radiation therapies to try and save her life. After a series of doctors visits and misdiagnoses, she is diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma, a deadly form of cancer. This injury leads her to the dentist who is the first to realize something more may be wrong. Fourth-grade Lucy sustains a minor injury while playing dodgeball in school. The memoir then moves back in time to Grealy’s early childhood and the accident that led to the discovery of her cancer. Even from the brief anecdote, we can see clearly how ashamed Grealy is at her own disfigurement. As she works the party, we see how acutely aware Grealy is of the partygoers curious and disturbed gazes at her disfigured jaw, which she attempts to hide behind her long hair.

The prologue begins several years after Grealy’s cancer treatment, with an account of an adolescent Grealy helping a local stable with a ‘pony party’ in a nearby suburb. With the exception of the prologue, the memoir employs a linear narrative, detailing Grealy’s life from early childhood into adulthood. It describes her childhood struggles with jaw cancer and the resulting disfigurement that she considers the true tragedy of her life. Written by people who wish to remain anonymousĪutobiography of a Face is a 1994 memoir written by award-winning poet Lucy Grealy. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Autobiography of a face by lucy grealy