Comparing Memory In Slumdog Millionare And Fiftieth Gate

Memories from the past are shown throughout our environment. Sometimes, recalling memories from surroundings are simple, like looking into the eyes of your father. As people proceed in their lives, they encounter moments that affect them deeply. Sometimes, a discharge of memories occur, showing a recognition of righteousness in people. In a short story called “Aero Bars” by Robert Hilles, the narrator acknowledges his father’s love through recalling the past. By reminiscing memories of remarkable values or behaviours, one is able to develop a moral conscience.

Memories are important, they are a personal record of our past experiences, and could be called the history book for our life. In the poem "The Heroes You Had as a Girl", author Bronwen Wallace tells the story of a woman who meets her high school hero later in her life, reflects on her memories of him, and ultimately decides not to talk to him. The effect that this topic has on everyone is the knowledge that we can be captivated and let our memories control us, and by knowing that our memories hold that much power, it may make it more mentally efficient to make accurate, and personal decisions in a fraction of the time. The topic and overall meaning that this idea holds convey a message that resonates with the idea that memories are in fact the central hub of our decision making. People remembering memories can affect their perspective on their lives to such an extent, that they prefer to immerse their mind in their past memories rather than the current reality.

This notion is particularly evident in the realisation of the persona “years cannot move nor deaths disorienting scale distort those lamp lit presences” reiterating the immortality of memory as a constant, surpassing the boundaries of time and places we go.

Thoughts can be fleeting, however some of the feelings resulting from thought and can have a long lasting impact on the mental state of a person. In my metacognitive exploration I found an interesting comparison between the way in which I think and approach my past feelings and the methods which Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried, and Paul D from Beloved express their thinking about the past. I have discovered that the expression of thoughts, including memories and feelings, is the key to a healthy mental state of a person.

Despite the use of humor, the speaker of “Forgetfulness” establishes both a melancholic and deeply reflective tone in order to analyze both the inevitability of forgetfulness and the heartache that comes with it. Employing humor, Collins appeals to his audience and conveys the universal experience of forgetting memories as you grow older, “well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those / who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle” (18-19). The speaker humorously contradicts the old bicycle cliché that states that once you learn how to ride it, you never forget. According to the speaker, however, you do forget. And if you can forget how to ride a bicycle, you can certainly forget everything else. In no time, you will be blindly sinking into oblivion, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. On the surface, the speaker’s musings appear quite humorous. However, Collins’ words reveal an undeniable truth about the human condition -- that growing older and forgetfulness are inevitable. The speaker continues to emphasize this idea by comparing life itself to an individual trying to remember a book they once read:

Memory is something all humans struggle with. A person’s memory is everything. It shapes the entirety of a person’s being. The fear of losing your memory is a uniquely human phenomenon, and to some degree I believe it must haunt every person. In these two poems, both titled “Forgetfulness”, two poets explore the idea of losing yourself and being human. Although their voices are very different, and the techniques which they employ to get their message across, the topic of the poems is the same. The truth is that forgetfulness is a many-headed beast, and it’s entirely valid that two different viewpoints could explore different aspects of it. Hart Crane’s poem focuses on the image of forgetfulness, the effect it has on humanity as a whole, and

In contemporary society, our knowledge of the past is articulated through the interplay between history and memory, which work to expose the elusive truths of the past, and exemplify the strength of humanity. Richard White, a historian, posits; “History is the enemy of memory...History forges weapons from what memory has forgotten or suppressed.” This definition postulates that there is an inevitable dichotomy between the accretion of factual evidence and the subjectivity of personal experience by shaping the collective past of humanity. However, as indicated by Mark Baker’s memoir, The Fiftieth Gate and Cathy Wilcox’s Cartoon, both of which explore perceptions of the Holocaust through an array of unique and evocative literary

Memory Memory is past thing that we have, memory is important things for us to against the war and injustice, and memory’s effect not only these. Memory can help us to avoid past action and wrong thing. In “Hope, Despair and Memory” the author Elie Wiesel have different view for memory. Humanity needs memory to against war and injustice. Memory is important for us.

Experience’s turn into memories and memories are exile by other means. That is stating that the genesis of memories are events that were attended by the individual and that the reminiscence of the past expels us from living in the present. There have been many instances in an individual’s life to support this; past failures, the death of a loved one or, the haunting of a heinous experience. In the fictional memoir Fugitive Pieces, Ann Michaels thematizes the importance of memories in presenting the positive and negative effects it has on one of the narrators Jakob Beer.

The context of the Fiftieth Gate is crucial in the understanding of the book and how significant an impact the events of the Holocaust have, not only on the survivors, but also the impact on survivor’s families and generations after. Mark reflects on a range of fragmented recounts and historical records to create the integrated representation that illustrates the individual and collective details of the horrific acts of genocide the Jews were sentenced to up until the end of the Holocaust in 1945. The constant interplay between the historical documents and memory Baker uses puts a face to the facts and statistics of the Holocaust.

When considering the events of the past, the selective nature of representation predestines the unattainability of an absolute truth. However, a deep understanding can be achieved through such representations of history and memory in conjunction. The novel The Fiftieth Gate by Mark Baker, a discussion of his parent’s experiences as Holocaust survivors and the film Au Revoir Les Enfants by Louis Malle, about a young boy’s friendship with a Jewish hideaway in a French boarding school, both exemplify this notion. They achieve their deeper meaning through a dynamic relationship; history informing memory and memory informing history, both within the context of a post-WWII period of rebuilding. Their respective forms; novel and film are crucial in the how their composers represent meaning.

To some degree, every artist creates his or her own artistic life preserver, and in doing so resequences and conserves their own artistic DNA so that it may be transferred onto another generation. Vladimir Nabokov’s memoir Speak, Memory, is not only that preserver, but the tug boat that it holds onto, heavy and cramped with the memories and history that Nabokov retells his readers against the currents of time. Speak, Memory operates thematically, not chronologically. Nabokov returns anew to his early childhood and pulls in, as it were, the memories associated with certain themes. Then he turns, changes directions, and sets off again. One such theme that resonates throughout the novel is that of exile and deteterritorialization, both

In “The Glass House,” Adrian uses Frenchy’s photographs to illustrate how rewriting the deaths of the soldiers improves their legacy. Through his pictures, Frenchy allows for the soldiers to receive the recognition and appreciation that they deserve. Similarly, in “Partial Recall,” Specter utilizes both Schiller’s and Foa’s research to display how removing painful feelings from a memory can help the person cope with their traumatic experience; this benefits the person’s life, and gives he/she the capability to recall that event without the paralyzing fear the comes with it. Likewise, O’Brien shows how rewriting the truth in his memories increases their effect, creating a more intense and emotional memory. He structures his whole novel around telling rewritten memories that better represent the emotions of the war. All three texts demonstrate how a rewritten memory creates an improved recollection that holds a more significant

However to consider the realistic features in tension with the role of memory, the audience must focus on Friel pretending presence of characters and incidents on stage, embedded within the text that provide a fundamental tone of loss and everyday details of the characters lives. In details, Michael Mundy's memories is the essence of the play outlined around family and

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Wes Anderson, 2014) combines a perfect mix of nostalgia and history. The film explores the themes of war as it recreates history through mise-en-scene. Anderson also incorporates other themes such as racism and elitism during pre-war Europe. The film widely explores Europe from many viewpoints, one of which is of Mr Moustafa. His nostalgia is seen through flashbacks of when he was a lobby boy that went by the name of Zero. As an audience the depth of his nostalgia is seen through mise-en-scene. With the help of cinematography and props we see can see the time and place that Moustafa acknowledges. Anderson shows how history is reimagined through ones nostalgia. Mr Moustafa recalls events, which he was not present in yet he explains them as if he were there. This also shows how one reimagines history from another due to emotions and personal attachment. Despite the outcome being the same there are many viewpoints it can be seen from.