My Collective Visual Experience

A pure memory. A truthful memory that is seen through the eyes of different individuals. The creepy, yet capturing toy that never seems to be forgotten. As we grow all our old toys seem to either be broken, thrown out or just simply lost and then forgotten. We may forget them, but do they forget us, and if they do not – what does that mean for us and our future?

Each individual has a unique way of coping with death, and this is evident throughout Christina Rossetti’s, “Remember” and W. H. Auden’s “Stop all of the Clocks”.

The sweet aroma of the apple pie wafted through the kitchen door and flooded the whole house. The sun shined brightly as the waves crashed on to the beach and the sand was burning hot. The birds chirped and animals awoke as nature was alive for the first time since the winter. These details are all specific memories that are related to these pieces of writing. “Once More to the Lake” by E.B White and Forgetfulness by Billy Collins are deep and meaningful texts. In the essay by E.B White, the main character is a father and goes to the lake with his son. During the trip, the main character feels like he is living a dual existence with his son and remembering memories from his childhood. On the other hand, in the poem Collins, writes about

What is remembered now might not be the same as what is remembered in 10 or 20 years, since memories are bound to change and even slip away as time continues. The poem “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins and the essay “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White both use diction and devices in order to help present how memories change and get lost as time moves on. The poem “Forgetfulness” explains how memories will slip away as one ages, and the sadness of not knowing simple facts and skills anymore. The text “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White explains the story of a father taking his son to the lake for a week, wanting to relive and share his childhood memories. As their vacation continues throughout the week, the father is pulled between

The value of memory is an important aspect in a person’s life because most of the time our brains will go back into our memory and recall past events weather them being good or bad. Memory plays a part in every human being’s life, whether it may be about a great loss of someone you loved dearly or it be a great gift like having a child or a miracle happen like getting a perfect score on your SATs. Memory will always be an aspect in everyone’s life. In the passage, “Hope, Despair, and Memory” by Elie Wiesel, and in the excerpt from The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger the value of memory are treated in both worthy and harmful ways using diction, repetition, and theme.

Throughout life, people gain and lose memories. The texts “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins and “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White both have a theme of memories, and how the past affects the future or present. Both authors use syntax and diction to show the themes. Everybody has memories, like their first birthday party, learning how to ride a bike, or even going to a lake with their family when they were younger. These memories from the past affects the present/future. Some memories that are stronger than others stay with the person and come up later in their life, while some memories just fade away into nothingness. The authors use syntax and diction in the texts “Forgetfulness” and “Once More to the Lake” to show a theme of how past memories affect the present/future.

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory,” Dr. Seuss. Thought and emotions are items that will always last forever inside of humans through thick and thin. Not all the tangible objects given to people will forever withstand their life but the thoughts will always be there for eternity. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from an event and the different features of the situation but, people don’t realize the fact that the more they think about a situation the more the memory will change. The excerpt from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and the excerpt, “Hope, Despair and Memory,” from Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Prize lecture both portray the value of memory through the contradictory

Almost everyone faces a deep tragedy in their life that shakes their foundation of being. Usually in the face of such a loss, one pushes it to a deep crevice of one's mind in an attempt to continue life as before. Loren Eiseley's essay, The Brown Wasps, speaks to those who have faced loss, telling them that no matter how hard one tries to repress a significant memory, the thought will never fully leave.

A certain image, scent or sound can bring back moments that may have been forgotten. The speaker is astonished by the dreams she has of her mother. Her mother died very ill, the person who she was when she died was merely a shell of who she truly was. She describes her as “so much better than I remembered.” (Monro, 151). At the end of her mother’s life she could not hear her voice. She remembers her “mother’s liveliness of face and voice before her throat muscles stiffened [as] a woeful, impersonal mask fastened itself over her features.” (Monro, 151) In her dreams she was able to hear her mother’s voice again, opposed to the reality before her death. A mother’s voice is beautiful, and there is no other sound that compare to something as unique. Elliot writes “The unconscious sifts through memory, and then offers up details either strangely distorted or implausibly combined. As in art, as in story, dreams too, render experience metonymically.” (Elliot, 79). With time memories inevitably fade, but the dreams bring a sense of comfort and replenish the image of her mother. “How could I have forgotten this?” (Monro, 151). Heller writes that this scene “serves as a springboard from which the narrator launches into a story being told by her mother.” (Heller, 1). This scene leads us to the central conflict in the story of her mother’s life, and assists in understanding the conflict

Edwidge Danticat and William Shakespeare use memory in their writing as a way to enter into a second dimension and talk about ideas far beyond what is played out by the text. In Danticat’s “The Book of the Dead” and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the authors suggest that memory set unrealistic expectations and causes people to live in the past. Hamlet and Ka are two characters in the literature that are given unrealistic expectations because of memory. They both have memories of their father and those memories are what motivate them to act the way that they do throughout their respective plots.

This specific piece of work can be applied to the memory and history social angle. Tear of Grief

When a person is constantly in a routined school environment growing up, their mind expands, and it is easier to retain new information. But, as times goes on, this information can be harder to recall, and can even disappear completely. Billy Collins addresses this topic in his poem entitled “Forgetfulness,” and E.B. White also addresses it in his essay “Once More to the Lake.” In the texts, the two authors use strong diction and devices to create and demonstrate a similar theme of losing old memories and gaining new memories as time passes.

Before considering whether or not memories affect our reality, it may be useful to offer a definition of the term ‘reality’. If we are to

If a person were to lose the entirety of their memories or even just the significant moments, ordeals, or encounters then they would assuredly cease to exist as the person they were prior. I believe that one’s worldview is entirely based upon their experiences and the challenges that they endure, overcome, and flounder. Anamnesis, the ability to remember the past, forges personality, intelligence, motivation, outlook, and viewpoint. All these attributes contribute to the worldviews that exists within all humans prevailing on Earth and extending towards all life similarly residing on earth or occupying other areas of space and time. These reasons exhibit why my basic approach to the world, to being human, and to life and death is the pursuit of a mind teeming with as many experiences as possible while entrusting the most valued experiences to others in hope that they are remembered after my final breaths. I believe that one should always strive to be remembered as amiable, honest, ambitious, and diligent.

Question mark is the symbol that runs through your head when you try to remember something that recently has gone away. Why is it that we forget that, which is the most important to us? What was it? You ponder and struggle to remember what it was. Has the memory returned yet? Perhaps not. Is having any type of memory important in our daily lives? If so, which do you remember the most of? In Kazou Ishiguro’s novel, The Buried Giant, Ishiguro deals with a couple named Axl and Beatrice, who go into an adventure where they meet other characters such as a young Saxon warrior Edwin. One theme that is constantly brought upon in the novel is the relevance of memory as a whole. Even though the meaning of family is evident between the elderly couple, Beatrice and Axl, Ishiguro generates a society and specifically for Axl, Beatrice, and Edwin where memory is lost and dreaded, thereby creating the importance of memory signifying that we should value others and what we remember by using abnormal dreams, remembering thoughts that unite each other, creating fear, and serving as motivation.