Sebastian Martinez

Prof. Raquel Corona

English 102

Question 1.Francis "had not developed his memory as a sentimental faculty."  Why is memory important in this story?  What kinds of memories do people try to ignore and what kinds of memories actually do surface in the story?

            Memory is important in this story because of the kind of situation that it is. It’s always hard having someone you know, much less a family member get involved in the wrong things. At the very beginning of the story, Francis is remembering Sonny for the kid that he used to be. It was heartbreaking for him picking up the newspaper that morning, he might not have even had breakfast yet and to be hit with something that shattering. Not only his specific memories of Sonny, but everything around him was reminding him somewhat of Sonny, from the boys out in the school yard, and even his own algebra class. Memory seems pretty important in this story because of the way that it is told, it’s not from Sonny’s perspective but from Francis’. When Sonny’s friend shows up, him and Francis still recall and remember all of the things they knew about Sonny and even went into his spiral into abusing heroin. Strangely the memories that Francis seems to be repressing are the positive ones about Sonny. In the beginning of the story he doesn’t really want to think about all of the positive qualities Sonny had. I feel that it was probably because he didn’t really want to think about Sonny at all, didn’t want to think about how his brother who was once so promising had now been jailed for drug abuse. As the story progressed we learn more about Sonny and how he wanted to be a musician, he was a very ambitious kid who had a talent for the piano. It’s the fondness of these memories that hurt Francis the most I think, and I feel it’s a pretty good way of depicting how drugs destroy families and peoples relationships. These are the memories that Francis holds closest, and I think that in times of crisis or hardship we all tend to cling to the memories that make us happiest.