This response will focus on mnemonic collections presented by Amy Tan and Liz Rohan. Each author presents detailed descriptions of ordinary objects as well as memories they correspond to. For both authors, the collections serve as a sort of authentication of the identity they have ascribed to themselves in the past, ultimately contributing to their current sense of self. In terms of approach, Liz Rohan offers a more technical analysis of the influence of mnemonic artifacts on identity, citing numerous dichotomies and presenting a handful of relevant terms. Although not explicitly stated, many of Rohan’s themes may be found in Amy Tan’s writing. This recurrence of themes validates Rohan’s analysis and emphasizes the fact that identity exists as an amalgam of past, present, and future.
Amy Tan guides us through her experience as she is reunited with a series of mnemonic artifacts originally accumulated by her late parents. She describes…show more content… The examples above show literacy activities being repurposed from academic assignments to objects of reflection. The concept of fuzzy genre may also be applied to Tan’s opinion of gardenias as mnemonic artifacts. She explains her former love of the flowers until they were mnemonically re-associated with death. Tan explains that “their beauty and scent belied their purpose as the messenger of grief” (Tan 28). This change of perspective alters a piece of Tan’s identity. The fluidity of purpose regarding mnemonic artifacts allows those otherwise ordinary objects to influence an individual’s sense of identity at the moment they are created as well as the present and the future. The influence of these objects becomes dependent on variant perspectives that develop throughout a