That's Not What Happened

While the school shooting and aftermath are important to the plot of That’s Not What Happened, the novel’s theme of The Complexities of Truth and Perspective unpacks the accuracy of the event’s narrative by emphasizing eyewitnesses’ perspectives and outsiders’ perceptions. This tension between truth and outside perception is explored through multiple perspectives, structural choices, and non-linear scenes, making the form of the text itself a mirror to its content. The text is introduced through Lee’s letter to the reader, which immediately asserts that the specific portrayals of victims and survivors of the shooting are false. Lee states that she has four other first-person accounts, but the unveiling of the truth occurs gradually, with Lee first exploring Sarah’s public portrayal as a martyr and Kellie’s as a liar.  

As a novel that symbolizes accurate storytelling, multiple viewpoints are utilized to explore the nuances of multiple perspectives as they intersect with the truth. Significantly, Lee does not act as an editor or translator but instead relays each survivor’s version of events unrevised, apart from redacting the shooter’s name. Lee believes that multiple viewpoints from survivors will create a more complete, honest version of events and challenge the false narratives that have prevailed in the aftermath of the shooting. Letters, emails, and narratives from other first-person perspectives provide more characterization than Lee’s lens alone. Furthermore, Lee’s genuine reactions to the other survivors’ stories, opinions, and misunderstandings, such as her surprise at Denny’s version of events in his college scholarship essay, provide additional indirect clues to her characterization. Multiple viewpoints, therefore, impact both plot and characterization.

The purpose of Lee’s letter, which makes up the majority of the text, is twofold: To relay recent and past events and to help her decide if she will publicly reveal the letters. Lee is introspective and motivated, but she is struggling with the conflict of surviving a shooting that killed her best friend Sarah and then misrepresented Sarah, and others, to the world. Lee’s tone while setting up her letter is uneasy; there is little hesitancy, but the mood conveys dread, as if she feels she may as well tell all since the situation cannot get worse. That Lee doubts her choice to publicly share the survivors’ truthful accounts, including her own letter as she is writing it, establishes a situational irony that continues throughout the novel. At various points within Lee’s letter, others’ compiled letters and victim portraits also appear, reflecting the past (such as Denny’s letter and his comments about Ms. Taylor). Thus, Lee’s letter serves as a frame for telling the story.

Regarding the timeline, Lee’s letter details recent events sequentially from the shooting’s third anniversary to just after graduation. These time-situating chapters are interspersed with Lee’s recollections of the shooting and its immediate aftermath. These flashbacks to the past, however, are not sequential. Instead, these non-linear scenes reveal exposition or character details that connect with the surrounding text. The non-linear storytelling format allows the author to reveal information gradually to enhance the effect of The Impact of Trauma on Individual Identity regarding the survivors.

These three factors—structural choices, multiple viewpoints, and non-linear sequencing—add complexity to the novel and merge tension with narrative pacing. Perspectives and timelines are interwoven, and the story shows that perception and perspective impact the way media is consumed, highlighting The Complexities of Truth and Perspective.

The impact of bias and judgment gains special focus early in the story. The dichotomy between Lee’s version of the shooting and the media’s is evident when, in the woods, Lee criticizes news reports of Denny’s post-shooting physical therapy and Miles’s reputation as a disciplinary case. Lee’s tone supports that she wants to accomplish what the media frenzy after the shooting could not: The representation of each person’s part of the story in a fair, unbiased way. The author establishes through Lee’s critical remarks that peers and the public made assumptions about survivors based on their backgrounds or characteristics, examining The Role of Stereotyping in Shaping Narrative as a theme.

Lee’s characterization in the first section builds a foundation for change. Her guilt, mentioned frequently but without much detail yet, will shape her character arc significantly, particularly as it intersects with the loss of her best friend in the shooting. In losing Sarah and witnessing her death, Lee must also live with the knowledge of the truth and the misrepresentation of her friend. While this gives Sarah’s parents comfort, it forces Lee to maintain the appearance of a misrepresentation that also villainizes Kellie, the true owner of the cross necklace. As such, Lee’s complex guilt also drives her actions; she does not compile survivor testimony simply to set the record straight but to assuage her remorse and guilty conscience. Keeping the truth locked inside for three years has left its mark on her identity, examining the theme of The Impact of Trauma on Individual Identity and creating an internal conflict for Lee to overcome.

Finally, secrets increase the literary element of suspense. By not revealing the events in the girls’ bathroom surrounding Kellie, Lee, and Sarah, the narrative pacing heightens tension. Knowing that others have the wrong idea about Sarah causes much of Lee’s guilt, but realizing additional false narratives exist prompts her action; these unknown lies and assumptions increase suspense and interest as well: Lee knows what happened in the bathroom, and will likely reveal that in time, but she must now uncover other details about the shooting.