Shifting Memories in Aleksandar Hemon's book "Love and Obstacles" (Book Review Sample)

Name
Professor
Subject
Date
Shifting Memories in Aleksandar Hemon's book "Love and Obstacles\"
Memory has a broad definition as the act of remembering ideas and events that happened in the past times. In many cases, past actions and events often come back to our lives to haunt us, as well as remind us of certain things that we need to know or embrace to be better in our present circumstances. For instance, past actions of pain, disappointments as well as disgrace often haunt us and make us feel discouraged in our daily lives. On the same note, happy times and memories often fill us with bliss and make our days brighter. In literature, the storyline of a book defines a lot of the memory elements between the author and the reader. In the process of a story unfolding in a book, time passes. Within this time, various cases of memory elements emerge which determine the development of characters as well as the progress within the plot. Finally, cultural memories have an important role in the development of literature. This paper evaluates the memory shift within Love and Obstacles by Aleksander. This analysis will depend on the mode of character exposition, theme domination, as well as the authorial interruptions within the book.
First, it is vital to understand the background and context of Aleksander. Born in Bosnia-Sarajevo with a life in America, the writer has earned an incredible share of his life writing much of the war outbreak and certain elements of his isolation and perception of what happened in his life. One special element of his life quite vital in this analysis is the war outbreak that took place in 1992 while still on a program in Chicago in 1992 (Hiscock 11). His memories and imminent transformation after being stranded in this new land leads to a perfect tale of displacement and an apparent shift in memory.
Summary of Love and Obstacles
After writing a variety of books within his lifetime, the book examines a variety of linkages within his various short stories ("The Book of my Life 32). Being so distinctive, the story combines a variety of creative extracts as well as haunting relays of a young man emerging from a country that appears cosmopolitan and communist. The young man from Sarajevo will leave for the US after his city gets engulfed in wars that threaten its peace. The story, from the perspective of Hermon revolves around the character’s childhood experiences which are mundane and seem to convey daring acts as well as dramatic ventures in his life ("Love and obstacles" 12). The unique circumstances are also wrenching and similar to the daily human travails within our communities.
The story may emerge to resemble an immigrant’s ordeal and autobiography with fabulous travails worth noting. Despite the varied conclusions, the elements of each story reveal dazzling processes that will determine actual yardsticks in the country of a small boy.
Character memory shift
The character illustrates a sequence of dreams that endears an endless manner of memories regarding sex, violent experiences as well as migration issues. These hurdles are a result of the disappointments that emerge through the life of the protagonist. From one instance, the definition of the story reveals a trauma within the exhilarating flux within the Metro system. From the experience in Page X), the events and actions that happen to the protagonist relates to Hermon’s life that also lived in Yugoslavia and migrated to the States. As the story develops, it emerges that living in a communist land which is on the brink of disintegration is as just as bad as going to another land. The memory cases emerge where the status and connections between the character and the environment are intertwined to determine trauma within the characters. While on the train, the protagonist could hear voices as a Serbian talked of how every country he went to refused them access. These events happen as the character closes his eyes to mean that he actually relates every event and activity to the previous memories as they transcended across his life.
Memory shift is very critical here as it determines the nature of character development and the way that he now views life from the upcoming development days. Following this conversation, it emerges that memory is a structure of realism that will be connected to past events in the protagonist’s life ("The Lazarus Project, 51). Relating these stories to the ideal life within the character’s autobiography, it emerges that first during this time; certain actions in his life did not become pleasant to him. In one instance, he was discriminated upon and barred from entering any country which the two characters in the train are open in a discussion about.
The element of fear is a factor within the memory shift that causes a character to become paranoid of certain anticipations. Taking a look at the manner that the character is scared of the men in the train when they speak of their past, a sense of belonging and awareness emerges. It is a time when the character is scared of the precepts of war and what had happened in his life at a given point.
A comparison to Recovered Memories determines that characters imminent source of confusion. Hatfield & Richard talks about memory shifts from a social portion in a clear manner (Hiscock 14). From a psychological viewpoint, and the story of Reza and Chavez, a semblance emerges close to the Romeo and Juliet’s story. In the story, the father is accused of committing sexual offenses. The couple develops relationship problems which become shattered within the passage of time. Reflecting on their predecessor from Verona, it becomes apparent that romance truly has a modern form of activity. From the story, romantic obsessions have a close connection to the character shift in memory as can be seen within the secrets that become apparent within the plot development. In a way, memory appears as self-deceptive, elusive as well as fragile as the characters try to hold on the shifts and realize that new environments determine new strategies with no close connection to the past. Ideally, from Love and Obstacles, the character tries as much to resist the present with a close reference to the future but fails. It becomes clear that the past determines our present in a very strong way and unless we exactly determine the particular connection, we shall be in cinstant fight (Love and Obstacles 54).
Cultural memory shift
Culture is a determinant of human existence. Our place of birth and development as well as the norms that we interact with in the process determines much of our actions and activities in life. From the story, a young Sarajevo boy is in the states for the first time. He is stranded in the new place because of war at home and personal problems with language among others.
In one instance, an issue of images overlaps thereby linking two worlds in the stories. Coming from two stories where we have a prose and poetic discourse, the memory of Hermon is illustrated through a reader response that is both critical and responsive. One is willing and ready to connect to the stories within the book to the stark reality of Hermon’s psychoanalytic misdemeanor. For instance, the writer claims to have never seen a defensive as well as fatal position of an object getting a "shrimping" description ("Love and Obstacle" 14). In fact, these definitions recur in the book and reappear at a point to denote a critical round of connection between the gerund and sociocultural background of the writer (Grabes 41).
After around forty pages within the book, a line of trailing threads emerges between varied settings and characters. Memory shifts interestingly in one line to include "everything" beyond the expectations of the protagonist (REF). Notice how Szmura’s room is depicted in the fifth paragraph to illustrate a state of oblivion with the present circumstance ("Love and obstacles" 40).
Another image emerging closely within the system includes the threads of images such as "mercurial discharge" as well as malachite ashtray all of which have a strong origin in Zaire (Fishkin et al 112). In one part, it emerges clearly that the narrator’s connections to the family ties is strong and actually affects his stay away from home. In a paragraph, it is clear that the character is making a close reference to his sister where he says that certain sacred fetish that are unassailable form a close tie to the regimental divide with a neat writing as well as alternative figures (Ty et al online). He continues that the figures wish to for a soft landing where by default, certain people within the Bosnian system have managed to take lead ("Love and Obstacles" 21). In the same line, he says that adolescent males in their multiple forms bemoan their sisters to insinuate the close connection they have in memory with their relatives. While these elements are conscious within the memory of the narrator, another factor that emerges from the memory shift is the reappearance of characters.
Character reappearance and memory shift
Reappearance is a factor of memory that denotes the recalling of factors and ideas or people in the experiences (Ty et al 130). The authors continue that experiences can have a past dimension or a future connotation. In this case, memory attempts to identify the past dimensions of a character as having a close connection to the ideals of the present ad probable future indications of an author. From the collection of works in Love and Obstacles, it’s apparent that characters have a knack of reappearing within the book to show the close semblance between every collection and the characters. From close reference in the book, it is apparent that details and certain descriptions are eminent within the text. Characters are also commo...