Reminders Of Moments With Bella example essay topic

When Athos Russo's discovers a mud-covered boy while conducting an archeological dig in Poland, he takes the child home to the Greek Island of Zakynthos. Seven-year-old Jakob Beer has escaped the Nazi's forced to listen to the cries of his parents when they are murdered while he lay hidden between the boards. Athos nourishes Jakob with knowledge and words, applying the help he needed to mend the wound left after his terrible loss. After the war the moved to Toronto, but when his beloved mentor dies and his brief marriage fails, Jakob returns to Greece to work as a translator and write poetry.

When he meets Michaela, the possibility of happiness finally becomes a reality, only to be shattered by a traffic accident. After Jakob dies, Ben the child of concentration camp survivors, sets out in search of his journals. "Every moment is two moments. Alex's hairbrush propped on the sink: Bella's brush.

Alex's bobby pins: Bella's hair clips turning up in strange places, as bookmarks, or holding open music on the piano. Bella's gloves by the front door. Bella writing on my back: Alex's touch during the night. Alex whispering goodnight against my shoulder: Bella reminding me that even Beethoven never stayed up past ten o'clock". In Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michael's we are introduced to the concept that every moment is two moments. This particular quote is demonstrating this by showing the reader that the small things such as Alex's habits were tied with memories of Bella.

It's easy to be caught in place and time, Jakob finds himself caught in the past while living in the present. He cannot shake the images and memories of his sister out of his mind and while living with Alex he feels like the memories he has of Bella are apparent in Alex. An example given in the quote above is on in which Michael's uses Bella's hairbrush as an example. Alex's hairbrush propped on the sink and Bella's hairbrush.

The reason Jakob feel every moment is two moments is because of the reoccurrence in mannerisms and objects. In believing "every moment is two moments" it becomes almost mandatory that Jakob has to learn to differentiate between memory and the present. His memories of Bella are too strong to let go of and by having constant reminders of her in the house makes Jakob believes that everything in life is reoccurring. Alex's hair brush propped on the sink is given in comparison to how Jakob remembered Bella's just shows how little an object can be a constant reminder of the past and how currently living in the future the past will always be a part of him.

Bella will always be a part of him. "Greek tears are ink for the dead to write their lives". Bella may not be alive but she is never completely dead she will always communicate in one way or another with Jakob. She will never be alive again but the moments they shared will be repeated through his life as a constant reminder of her. Death may steal away the future of the person but it will never take away life. "History and memory share events; that is, they share time and space.

History is the events that have taken place, Athos taught history. He taught Jakob never to forget his past nor to forget his own past. History keeps an individual grounded never letting them to forget where they came from or who they once were. Memories are what Jakob was trapped inside, the shared moments and feelings he once had with his family. Athos tried to teach Jakob the future without letting him forget the past. Jakob at first cannot understand as to why Athos was sharing his memories.

"How can one man take on memories of even one other man?" A memory is created being in the moment and capturing that moment and calling it your own. By passing this moment on to another human like Athos does, Jakob finds it hard to place himself in these situations. In 1942, while Jews were crammed into the earth and then covered with a dusting of soil, men crawled into the startled darkness of Lascaux. Animals woke form their sleep underground". While one moment may be occurring somewhere in the world another may occurring somewhere else. But at the same time these moments may not be exact but are having the same impact on the people or place they are happening in.

While Jakob is dealing with the tragedy and loss of his family, somewhere else in the world another may be going through a rough time that proves to be a break through or possibly worse. Throughout the book Michael's uses the reoccurrence of chapter names to further prove her theory that "every moment is two moments". In the book you see the following chapter names repeated; The Drowned City, Vertical Time, The Way Station, And Phosphorus. The repetition shows the reader that what has happened once before is forever happening again. By repeating the chapter name the reader is given the feeling as though history is repeating itself and that although there is one thing going on our mind seems to be going racing back to previously stated information they found when reading contents under the same heading. Each chapter is supposed to talk about one point in time, but if a chapter is repeated then every moment must also be repeated, hence every moment is two moments.

A reoccurring chapter gives the same events from a different viewpoint, this opposite viewpoint is like a completely different moment to one who experiences it, every moment is experienced by two people. In reading Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michael's it can be said that believing every moment is two moments is portrayed very well through the character of Jakob. He helps the reader to see that while one moment can be occurring to someone it may have already occurred in the past to this person but with someone else. In using many techniques Michael's is able to demonstrate this. Having music run through a lot of characters in only one way we are shown this.

As previously stated in the second paragraph, Jakob finds himself with reminders of moments with Bella all around while being with Alex. This forces him to believe that the moment is happening again and that it really is two moments in time.