Susan Engel's Then And Now: Creating A Self Through The Past

Susan Engel shares a variety of psychological ideas in an excerpt from her book, “Then and Now: Creating a Self Through the Past.” These ideas include “the extended self,” “screen memories,” and “template memories,” which are concepts that can be helpful in analyzing personal development. As example of the process of analysis is offered by Barry Lopez, who reflects his extended self and memories in his memoir, “A Passage of the Hands.” Various stories of his hands are used to register the experiences that shaped him. Another example is offered by Alan Strang, the main character in Peter Shaffer’s play “Equus.” Alan ends up in a mental hospital because of a heinous act. Alan’s psychologist, Dysart, carefully looks into Alan’s memories to account …show more content…
Engel explains aspects human development through her concepts of the extended self, screen memories, and template memories. These concepts can help understand the development of personal identity. Engel is a professor at Williams College and wrote “Then and Now: Creating a Self Through the Past” to educate students how identities of people are developed through accessing and contemplating memories. From here explain engel more. Say how stories define who we are. This results in the extended self. The passage starts off with the extended self; this is defined as an “awareness of consciousness,” which is an understanding of continuity of self over time (Engel 196). Refer to example of birthday party… In other words, a sense of identity is developed through memories and the extended self helps the person recognize and articulate that identity. In his memoir, Lopez freely recalls past experiences that shaped his persona, thus demonstrating his extended self. Alan from Shaffer’s play was unable to form an extended because his memories are too painful. To strengthen her argument, Engel introduces template memories and screen memories. Though they are very similar, template …show more content…
“A Passage of the Hands,” was written in 1997 with a goal of giving a sensory experience of his life. The memoir shows the development of his identity through life experiences. and coincides with Engel’s concepts of the extended self and template memories. Lopez forms an extended self by recalling events from an early age. He says “it is from these first years,” where he can vividly remember “a great range of texture” (Lopez 28). He then recalls a myriad of textures experienced from a young age which range from the sharpness of a saw, to the softness of a dog’s head. This ties back to Engel’s concept of the extended self because Lopez is able to recollect early memories that contribute to his personality. Throughout the years, Lopez develops a sense of identity through his early memories. In addition to Lopez having an extended self, he goes into great detail of memories with his hands; these memories are template memories which follow a similar pattern. Throughout his memoir, Lopez recalls a variety of stories with his hands. Though the stories are different, they evoke similar feelings which are brought back in great detail. The myriad of memories “bring forth affection” to Lopez’s hands as he recalls differentiating the feeling “between husks of the casaba and the honeydew melon,” and the “wire bristle of a hog’s back” (Lopez 34). These vivid experiences result in a pattern of