Fueled by Memory

“I sometimes find it difficult to remember names, and places, and sometimes to remember instructions…” This is how John Forbes, an English man, who has almost no memory, describes his inability to remember. Forbes must write everything he wants to remember down, even the instructions of which train, his only method of travel, to get on and how to get to it. The result of this is having a lack of or a weak personal identity. Without any memory, one has no personal identity, but rather only an external identity, as others see them.
In order to analyze the connection between memory and identity, I think it is important to first realize that there is more than one kind of identity. There is your personal, or first person, identity as you view yourself, and your external, or third person identity, as others view you. The average person has both of these, a view of themselves, and a view of how others see them. Our personal identity is defined by our memories and what we have learned from them. For example, in “Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez, Richard has a distinct and defined identity of himself as he recants his memories of his childhood to us. Without being able to learn and grow from our mistakes and our accomplishments we cannot gather an identity for ourselves. As an example, John Forbes, as mentioned above, has little to no memory. The only memories he has are those his mother has repeatedly told him over and over. Just by looking at John’s almost blank stare one can tell right away there is an emptiness or loss of personal identity. He knows who he is by name, but does not know who he is inside, or where he wants to go in life. With no memories of our family, friends, and experiences we have no idea of who we truly are. However, our external identity relies on the memories of others and regardless of our memory remains intact. Although our personal identity relies on us and our memories, our external identity only relies on how others see us, or their memories of us. In either case, whether it is our own memories of ourselves, or memories of others who have met us, our identity is fueled by memory.

Eamoe 014