Memory, Imagination, and Consciousness in Funes the Memorious and Meursault
Consciousness separates humans from sense perceiving “garbage heaps.” Jorge Luis Borges, in “Funes the Memorious,” and Albert Camus, in “The Stranger,” explore the causes of consciousness. They are philosophers who write fiction to answer the question, “What makes us aware?” An imperfect memory and imagination define our reality. Funes can be aware of other realities because has a perfect memory. Meursault reveals that the missing element for Funes to possess consciousness is imagination. I will define consciousness, assess memory and imagination as essential, discuss metaphor as a manifestation of consciousness, and isolate the affect of the awareness of other consciousness’.
Without memory, we could not compare a past object or idea with a present one. Memory allows us to enhance past objective observations with present sensory perceptions. Because we have an imperfect memory, that is, we cannot remember every detail, we embellish. We give a past idea or object an identity independent from the external world because we perceive and imagine it differently than our initial sensory reaction. We change our original reaction with our imagination. Thus, creative people experience life more vividly. In the process of consciousness, we first remember something imperfectly, and then qualify it with other embellished thoughts. The act of thought, then, is not consciousness. Thought is the comparison of one object to another. We are not conscious because we notice a difference between two things. Once, we embellish the relationship however, we create an internal reality that is an imperfect copy of our true sensory reaction. We possess consciousness...
... middle of paper ...
.... Together, Camus and Borges show us that through our imperfect memories and our distorting, lying imaginations, we obtain an individual identity.
Works Cited
Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths: “Funes the Memorious”. New York: New Directions Publishing Co., 1964.
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York: Random House, 1988.
Christ, Ronald. The Narrow Act: Borges’ Art of Fiction. New York: Lumen Books, 1995.
Hart, Thomas R. Jr. “Borges’ Literary Criticism.” Modern Critical Views: Jorge Luis Borges. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 5-20.
Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton, 1976.
Müller, Max. The Science of Thought. London: Longmans Green, 1887. 78-9.
Sarte, Jean-Paul. “An Explication of “The Stranger.” Camus. Ed. Germaine Brée. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1962.
Found within the storyline, Willy implements features of a tragic hero as he shows the reversal of events in his life due to his own actions. Willy, through the downfall with his son, Biff, shows that his actions have caused a bridge between him and his son in which his son chooses to grow apart from his family. As seen at the beginning of the play, Willy represents a tragic hero as he is distressed and troubled as he comes home from another failed sales trip. Although Willy represents a tragic hero in many cases, there are also others found within Death of a Salesman that help implement the role of a profound hero. Willy’s wife, Linda, implements the heroine as she presents herself with many wise and understanding words for Willy has he faces his hardships. Throughout the story, it is seen that Linda represents herself as a put together woman for her husband but is often found distraught by her husband’s actions in which readers and audiences can empathize with
Thody, Philip. Albert Camus 1913 – 1960. 2nd ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1962.
theorists attempt to develop a mode of consciousness and cognition that breaks the identity of
In the 1920s a new kind of music rose in New Orleans. Different from the ballroom songs popular in that day, former slaves and their families created this new music called jazz, which spread like wildfire. Many artists influenced the growth of this great type of music including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Louis Armstrong played as one of these great men. Growing up in a poor section of the “Birthplace of Jazz”, Armstrong taught himself to play the trumpet, also known as the cornet. Louis Armstrong was the most influential jazz trumpet player to walk this earth due to his own created style of jazz including many songs that are still used today.
Soon after Cordelia's arrival she begins to intimidate Elaine, albeit unintentionally, by leading Elaine to make judgements and comparisons which she had not made before "It occurs to be for the first time that we are not rich." Showing the early signs of pressure and bullying starting to happen. Much of Cordelia's character is also related to the audience at this point, her grownup behaviour is revealed "She has a smile like a grown-ups", "But children don't shake hands like this", "I feel shy with Cordelia", as is her childish nature, "The soft squishy kind, like peanut butter". These extreme swings are shown later when Cordelia appears to be friends with Elaine, while really harassing her. This again is typical of children- that they pick up on the behaviour of their parents is quite natural, especially in Cordelia's circumstances which are related when Elaine visits her with "I ask Cordelia if she is gifted, but she puts her tongue in the corner of her moth and turns away". The main motive to bully Elaine seems to be the neglect that she has to deal with at home- the older siblings who are 'gifted' and her ordinariness and inability to be more like them.
Hofstadter, Douglas R., Daniel Clement. Dennett, and Raymond Smullyan. The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul. New York: Basic, 1981, Chapter 23 “The Unfortunate Dualist”.
Early in The Mysterious Flame, (1)., philosopher Colin McGinn's breezy but provocative discussion of the relationship between consciousness and the brain, McGinn presents a telling vignette from a science fiction story in which aliens are discussing their observations of humans:
mythological names for the Parades for more of a rich tradition. Many of the Popular Parades are named after Greek Gods such as Bacchus, Orpheus, Endymion, and even the African parade, Zulu.
MARDI GRAS!!!!! Yes, New Orleans' famous Carnival season is this years' never-ending party and you're invited. Mardi Gras, famous for its colorful and cultural parades, is an experience you can't go any longer w/out! The Streets are packed with both tourists and Native Louisianans as they celebrate Mardi Gras in full color and sound. . The Huge Parades come flashing down the street we fresh music, an explosion of lights, and spectacular floats. Everyone is having a great time, enjoying the festivities of the parade. So you're new to Mardi Gras, but don't want to act like it? Here in brief, are the basic facts about Americas' greatest party.
The Stranger by Albert Camus is a story of a sequence of events in one man's life that cause him to question the nature of the universe and his position in it. The book is written in two parts and each part seems to reflect in large degree the actions occurring in the other. There are curious parallels throughout the two parts that seem to indicate the emotional state of Meursault, the protagonist, and his view of the world.
What is memory and how its work. It is usually link with the ‘thinking of again’ or ‘recalling to the mind’ of a thing learned or memorized before. Definitions of this sort imply conscious awareness in the remembered that they are recollecting something of the past. For instance, we may remember our first day of school or some information like who is the president of the country. Basically, this is just tiny part of our capacity when we check out the full human memory capabilities.
Much like Freud’s attitude to the understanding of consciousness, Stuart Sutherland seems accepting of the fact that regardless of psychologists perceptions and interpretations of what consciousness is, it is somewhat worthless trying to depict the true definition of the theory, as there is no...
Memories can last minutes, hours, months or years but sometimes we forget. Some memories we keep and some we repress. We tend to repress bad memories or insufficient ones and remember good ones or memories of importance to us. There are many ways to improve memory but first of all you must understand what memory is.
Before we define constructive memory, we must define memory. Memory is an active process that allows information to be retrieved to the brain, stored and possibly maintained. Based on Atkinson and Shiffrin's Multi store model, memory is stored into the sensory memory, the short-term memory and long term memory if researched and maintained.
In conclusion, there are several different psychoanalytic criticisms throughout “The Tell Tale Heart.” The most common psychoanalytic criticism that is used is Freud’s archetypes. The archetype Id brings out the narrator’s animalistic tendencies, Ego is used by planning, and Superego as he feels