“The Memory of Childhood” by Perec shows that childhood (which is normally associated with innocence, happy memories, and youth), is very tormented for the protagonist and narrator. The novel begins with the narrator repeatedly saying he has no childhood memories. Soon, we find out that he is orphaned and this fact suggest that the memories that he has may be so terrible that he tries to repress them. As he writes about things, places, and names, I notice that he talks about them in a very ambiguous way. For instance, he represents them with single letters. Part 2 begins mysteriously, naming the island as “W” . The island seems theoretical at first because it seems far-fetched that there would be “olympics” on an island meant for solely that purpose. When the rituals of the island are described, the picture starts to appear and tell a disturbing story. For example, “the men’s dress: grey tracksuits with an outsize W emblazoned on the back” (67). This made me think of prisoners. The life on the island consisted of these “neck-and-neck struggles, [and] the intoxication of victory” (67). The island was surrounded by “dusty tracks edged with dry-stone walls or high bramble hedges” (65). I think that these are the prison walls and barbed wire surrounding the “island”. The description of the athletes doing their exercise in clockwise circles and how it was seen as negative to walk the wrong direction contributes to the disturbing allegory of prison life for these people.
Those who seem to rule the island are coaches and referees, since athletes are restricted from making decisions. On the island, “There are competitions everyday where you win or lose” (140) and “there is no alternative. theres no recourse, no mercy, no salvation to be had from anyone” (140). By the last chapter of the novel, it is said blatantly that the examples of the island are describing life in a nazi concentration camp with the narrator being born there. The way in which the island was talked about and things were described in detail with all the sports and roles of the people was really gut-wrenching. It made for the extra shock factor when it is revealed at the end. The sad realization that their everyday life was characterized by fear and manipulation is shown by this metaphor of the island.
A question I would have after reading this is- do you think that the narrator had more memory of his childhood than he initially claimed to have? And what are the reasons that he might not admit this?
patricio robles
March 7, 2022 — 11:29 pm
“The island seems theoretical at first because it seems far-fetched that there would be “olympics” on an island meant for solely that purpose.”
True, but islands also have the impression of being places for social experiments; think of Robinson Crusoe or even Thomas More’s Utopia, which also takes place on an island.
Tiffani
March 7, 2022 — 10:36 pm
Hello Danielle!
I thought that the narrator might be trying to repress his memories as well when reading the narrator’s “three memories of school” on page 53 where he vaguely recalls “being made to try on gas masks”. I do believe that the narrator had a blurry memory of his childhood, although I think that subconsciously he did not have as strong of a desire to recall these memories as he claims. While writing an autobiography with many gaps may make it seem as though he would like to remember as much as possible, I think that he is content with these gaps because of how much trauma the memories must have had.