Brandon Baltazar
Dr. Nadia Swerdlow
English 101
Monday/Wednesday 9:00 A.M
7 March 2018
Draft
Memory is a fickle thing, often when recalling memories, one does not completely recall the whole truth. Often, one stretches the truth or lies about certain memories. In addition, memories are important because without memory there would be not past self, only our present self. Meaning there will be no concept of self-identity.
Memories help shape our current self. So why would someone lie about a memory? Does one even benefit from lying to themselves? Memories represent the change in our self, so it makes sense that someone would lie about a memory to believe, that the person has change over the years. By answering these questions, one can better
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Hampl is a poet and a writer with an B.A in English from the University of Minnesota, and author the of “Writing Autobiography”. In Hampl’s article, she reveals her difficulty in recalling her past as a child. In the beginning, she starts out with many details of her setting and the people around her. She particularly takes notice of Sister Olive and how Sister Olive taught her to play the piano. While Sister Olive was showing her to play the middle C, Hampl notice how Sister Olive sneeze while the sun was out. Hampl remarks: “Things were not, after all, necessarily what they seemed. Appearance deceived: here was the sun acting totally out of character. . .” (98) reveals how Hampl realizes something was odd about the sneeze and the weather. To which, Hampl concludes that the memory may not be completely truth and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish memory and imagination. In addition, Hampl recalls Mary Kathrine Reilly, a fellow student who according to her was better at playing at piano. At their first exchange Hampl concludes that, “she would be the leader, and I the side-kick” (99) but Hampl later says that whole memory was also a lie. Which demonstrates how memories affects someone’s self-identity, as it makes Hampl look like a follower not a leader. Furthermore, Hampl’s memory of Mary demonstrate, how the memory affects the …show more content…
She also states that we often lie about our memories, but not intentionally we lie because we feel we must. Furthermore, Hampl illustrates the benefits altering memories can have on writing a memoir, as she is, “forced to admit that memoir is not a matter of transcription” (101) meaning that writing memoirs often require some imagination. To summarize the above, one can see the effects that memories can have on the self-identity and see it’s
Where are the memories of our pasts held? In scrapbooks full of photographs, or perhaps written on the pages of a locked diary? Picture though, something as simple and ordinary as a closet full of clothes. Think about its contents, where they have been worn, what they have been through, the stories attached to each item. The nameless protagonist of Diane Schoemperlen’s short story Red Plaid Shirt does this as she recalls a snippet of her past life with each article of clothing she picks up. Red plaid shirt, blue sweatshirt, brown cashmere sweater, yellow evening gown, black leather jacket…each item has a tale of its very own, and when combined they reveal the full story of the main character’s life.
Memories are symbols that are used to demonstrate the progression from the past into the development of one’s current personal identity. We often use our personal memories to investigate our thoughts. Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro are 21st century works that reflect on the use of memoires to enhance personal thoughts to impact perspectives. Perspectives are created and altered by addressing and reflecting on thoughts and feelings towards previous events. In Native Guard, Trethewey uses her memories to develop a perspective on her past and history. In Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro uses Kathy’s memories to develop her actions and decisions. Tretheway and Ishiguro both demonstrate that a memory is a symbol
Memory is everything to the human society. We communicate and build relationships off of our memories through the stories we tell. We are natural story tellers and have been telling stories since the beginning of time. More than half of the human race lives their lives based off of stories told by others such as culture, religion, and our general history. Have you ever asked yourself how real are these stories? Not saying that they are false, but it has been recently revealed that memory is false. So if memories are false then that would mean the stories that are being told are false. You probably looking at me as if I’m crazy but if you pay attention you will understand by the end of this essay. “It has been proven
A character’s attempt to recapture the past is important in many poems and stories. " Fifth Grade Autobiography" by Rita Dove, succeeds at recapturing the poet's past. The poem's speaker is a the author and the addresse is the audience. The subject of the poem is one of remembrance. The tone is childlike, innocent and sadness and the theme is reminiscent. We discover the poet is describing a particular memory that shows reverence and longing for her grandfather, who is dead at the time she writes the poem. Dove recaptures memories as a child on a particular day and her interaction with her brother and grandparents especially her grandfather with great detail. The author recaptures the memory in the poem by looking at an old photo and describing, the things that were taking time at the place of the picture not exactly what is pticutred..
“Holding onto past memories helps humans avoid pain in the future. These experiences also help them make better decisions in the future.” (Kenny) Many people advise others to learn from the past and apply those memories so that you can effectively succeed by avoiding repeating past mistakes. On the contrary, people who get too caught up with the past are unable to move on to the future. Memories are the foundation of a person's mindset because what you make of them is entirely up to you.
In The Reader there are many examples of individuals having to cope with the past. Hanna Schmitz was a member of the SS during the Holocaust. She served in concentration camps in Auschwitz and a camp near Cracow. Although Hanna never killed anyone herself, she was involved in taking people to be executed. She must go to court for her actions while being in the SS. When Hanna was a guard she would pick certain girls to read to her. "Yes she had favorites, always one of the young ones who was weak and delicate," says a survivor of the Holocaust during Hanna's trial (Schlink 116). Hanna knew the younger, weaker girls would not tell anyone what they were doing for her. Hanna was illiterate so she enjoyed being read to by the girls. Hanna's entire life is being influenced by all the actions that happened in her past.
And if you just take a person, what is a memory for a person in his daily life? In my opinion, this is the basis for the formation of a person as a person. The existing experience and knowledge, which are stored in our memory, are the basis for our future development. Human memory is daily accumulated life experience, which allows it to grow and develop in all directions of life - mental, spiritual, moral. The paradox is that we use memory
Without memories, people would be nothing, memories that stick with everyone from the time it happened to the day they die, would never exist in people 's memories. Riding a bicycle for example, a memory that no one forgets, the first time we learn to do it with parents to when their kids are all grown up teaching their children how to ride bikes. Memories define each person, if someone’s childhood may have been
Primo Levi once said, " Human memory is a marvelous but fallacious instrument. The memories which lie within us are not carved in stone; not only do they tend to become erased as the years go by, but often they change, or even increase by incorporating extraneous features.." The memory of a human being is a fascinating matter, but it is not something that stays with us forever. Memories will often change or multiply with unnecessary information, but they are what define you as you.
At the biological age of eighty-two, Patricia Airhart provided partial insight to her autobiographical memory, presenting her self-concept. Inquiring Mrs. Airhart through a personal interview, I analyzed internal and external factors that potentially impacted her life’s trajectory. From normative age-graded and history-graded influences with her non-normative-changes, I evaluated my perception of the shared components of her life (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011, Jennings, 2010).
What really is a memoir? Patricia Hampl once wrote, “[A] memoir must be written…made of the stuff of a life lived in places and in history.” But does it really have to be all true? A memoirist’s commitment to the truth is not of absolute importance in memoir writing because memoirs are fiction, and memoirs are about impression and feeling.
Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.
The first issue that needs to be addressed however is what exactly is memory? “ Without memory we would be servants of the moment, with nothing but our innate reflexes to help us deal with the world. There would be no language, no art, no science, no culture. Civilization itself is the distillation of human memory” (Blakemore 1988). The simple interpretation of Blakemore’s theory on what memory is that a person’s memory is at least one of the most important things in their life and without it civilization itself could not exist.
The criticism that Mphahlele's awareness of his being a "hybrid' person imparts an inability to his being able to "write his story himself " is a criticism contrived out of literal derivations of the Greek components of the word "autobiography". The textual landscape of Down Second Avenue includes many varied and detailed arenas, the rural setting and its many dimensions, the city and its many dimensions. In the sense that autobiography is part of the genre of biography in the postclassical European tradition, that being the life accounts of saints and princes, the criticism is perhaps true to some extent. However, in the aspect of the autobiography being a search for identity and hybridity being the essence of Down Second Avenue, it is hybridity per se that is the author's story.
Lying is something that everyone has done whether people would like to admit it or not. Despite this hopefully regretful occurrence, people often do not understand why someone would choose to lie. Obviously, everybody has different situations and reasons for lying but all dishonesty relates back to one particular purpose. Telling lies is caused primarily by a desire to protect oneself.