A common issue people face today is their reliance on their memory and the notion that their memory is great. For instance, when two people have conflicting remarks in a conversation, it’s very difficult to tell who is wrong or who is pretending to be right. Usually, you would have to get a third party who is neutral to settle the argument, but that still wouldn’t work if neither person gives in on the other, which forces them to continue but heads with one another.
In the novels ‘Station Eleven’, by Emily St. John Mandel and ‘Monkey Beach’, by Eden Robinson, memory is a prominent theme that is conspicuous throughout both novels. Memory is visibly portrayed through a character memory of Arthur in Station Eleven and how Arthur’s demise after the Georgia flu annihilates Earth and the survivors of that pandemic the book follows use Arthur as a memory to recollect how life was before the virus. In Monkey Beach memory is dominantly present with Lisa, where various memories of her early childhood and adolescence of friends and family are stitched together throughout the novel to show the pivotal moments that shaped Lisa young life.