Memories have an impact on not only our pasts, but also our future. Our previous experiences are shaping us into young men and women for the future. When I was asked if memories play an important part of your life and who you are I answered true, because it seemed like a reasonable answer. However, I had no supporting to back it up. This essay is here as my supporting evidence, to a question that I originally thought of as meaningless. Yet, now I think of it as something worth looking into.
In “Examining the Role of Memory in Social Cognition”, by R. Nathan Spreng, Spreng examines how your memories affect your life in the past, present and future. Spreng issues that your memories not only recollect the past, but also to make and constantly …show more content…
Like Spreng said, Jonas uses the memories he receives from the Giver and applies what he learned to his perfect society. When Asher and his friends are playing the game of good guys and bad guys, Jonas recalls back to his memory of warfare. “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy who had lain dying on a field and had begged him for water.” (Lois Lowry 168) Jonas remembers the terrible face of the boy and remembers how abhorrent war is. In our world, veterans of war recall their memory of being in combat and protest the idea of military action. It is like Jonas is the veteran protesting the idea of war based off of his memory. As Jonas expresses his feelings for Asher’s game, Asher becomes angry about Jonas’ opposition. Asher does not have the memory of war, so he has no idea that war is an awful thing. Without the memory that Jonas has, Asher has no idea of the bad choices that he is making. Even as Jonas tries to explain war to Asher, he realizes that it is no use (Lowry 169). Asher will never understand war, unless he has the memory to support it. Asher is like my grandma. No matter how many times Jonas tries to teach Asher about war, he would never understand because he does not have the memory to back it up, just like how my grandma cannot recall how to use money wisely. This is like what Spreng said about having no memories. Asher is not able to navigate …show more content…
Spreng mentions that, “...memory for previous episodes modulates the empathetic response to other in a similar situation” (Spreng). Spreng is saying that when people have been in alike situations, empathy can be reached. In our school, most groups of friends have similar interests. I know that most of my friends enjoy sports and the beach, just like I do. When somebody within my friends has a tragic sports accident or gets wiped out on a wave, I feel the empathy towards them because I know what it feels like. I start to feel like my friend and I are are more connected because we have gone through similar experiences. This is like Jonas and the Giver. “‘Jonas, you and I are the only ones who have feelings. We’ve been sharing them now for almost a year’”(Lowry 192). Jonas and the Giver share very similar memories and feelings. Since Jonas and the Giver have been sharing feelings for almost a year, empathy has clearly been reached. They have both gone through similar pains and joys and been able to relate, just like Spreng said. For example, when I moved to Aptos, I was upset because I did not want to leave the place I loved. My brother also felt the same way. After our move, my brother and I felt empathy towards one another because we had both felt the same way during the same experience, like Jonas and the Giver. Overall, People with similar memories create empathy for one another
In “Examining the Role of Memory in Social Cognition”, by R. Nathan Spreng, Spreng examines how your memories affect your life in the past, present and future. Spreng issues that your memories not only recollect the past, but also to make and constantly …show more content…
Like Spreng said, Jonas uses the memories he receives from the Giver and applies what he learned to his perfect society. When Asher and his friends are playing the game of good guys and bad guys, Jonas recalls back to his memory of warfare. “In his mind, Jonas saw again the face of the boy who had lain dying on a field and had begged him for water.” (Lois Lowry 168) Jonas remembers the terrible face of the boy and remembers how abhorrent war is. In our world, veterans of war recall their memory of being in combat and protest the idea of military action. It is like Jonas is the veteran protesting the idea of war based off of his memory. As Jonas expresses his feelings for Asher’s game, Asher becomes angry about Jonas’ opposition. Asher does not have the memory of war, so he has no idea that war is an awful thing. Without the memory that Jonas has, Asher has no idea of the bad choices that he is making. Even as Jonas tries to explain war to Asher, he realizes that it is no use (Lowry 169). Asher will never understand war, unless he has the memory to support it. Asher is like my grandma. No matter how many times Jonas tries to teach Asher about war, he would never understand because he does not have the memory to back it up, just like how my grandma cannot recall how to use money wisely. This is like what Spreng said about having no memories. Asher is not able to navigate …show more content…
Spreng mentions that, “...memory for previous episodes modulates the empathetic response to other in a similar situation” (Spreng). Spreng is saying that when people have been in alike situations, empathy can be reached. In our school, most groups of friends have similar interests. I know that most of my friends enjoy sports and the beach, just like I do. When somebody within my friends has a tragic sports accident or gets wiped out on a wave, I feel the empathy towards them because I know what it feels like. I start to feel like my friend and I are are more connected because we have gone through similar experiences. This is like Jonas and the Giver. “‘Jonas, you and I are the only ones who have feelings. We’ve been sharing them now for almost a year’”(Lowry 192). Jonas and the Giver share very similar memories and feelings. Since Jonas and the Giver have been sharing feelings for almost a year, empathy has clearly been reached. They have both gone through similar pains and joys and been able to relate, just like Spreng said. For example, when I moved to Aptos, I was upset because I did not want to leave the place I loved. My brother also felt the same way. After our move, my brother and I felt empathy towards one another because we had both felt the same way during the same experience, like Jonas and the Giver. Overall, People with similar memories create empathy for one another