Short Story 'Two Amazing Tales Of Memory'

Memory is something almost everyone has, it’s just what they can remember throughout their life. Sometimes a person may remember and memorize little to nothing of what they’ve just learned. Sometimes the person may remember almost everything the next time. But for Mr.S, he remembered every single little thing in his life. Mr.S’s memory had a big impact on himself. The story “Two Amazing Tales of Memory” by Valerie Rodgers tells a story about a man who can remember anything. He can remember anything his bosses instruct him to do,which he does like since his boss has detailed assignments. He gets sent to the doctor to do tests since his boss is confused. He passed these tests , his memory far greater than others. Should be positive for him right?

Yeah, his memory might have been extremely good, but could he retell things in his own words? Could he understand what was just told to him, could he analyze it? Sadly no. He could remember, but could not retell. His memory caused his life to be more difficult by making him frustrated with things he couldn’t understand. He could only go so far. His own power became his enemy at times. It says, “The same images that helped Mr.S remember information often prevented him from understanding it.”, In paragraph 13. It made him frustrated. It also says in the text, “When asked to tell the story, however, Mr.S was often in trouble. Again, he would recall his images , but too often they had little to do with the meaning of the writing. To tell the story, Mr.S would describe these images, but the resulting jumble of ideas made little sense to his listeners.” (Paragraph 13). This means that even though he remembered a lot, he couldn't retell it. His capabilities could only go so far, everything has a limit. The words “Jumble of ideas” mean that even his listeners couldn't understand him, he couldn't even understand himself. This evidence proves that his own memory made him frustrated. It made his life more difficult at times. Even to people around him it made no sense to them, they couldn't understand his mindset. Like Dr.Luria, she admitted “it was often a chore” (paragraph 14) listening to him. To summarize everything, his memory affected his life by making his experiences difficult for him because he couldn't understand what he remembered at times, making himself and people around him