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The Narrator
The boy is the narrator’s love interest. He has blond hair and is about the same age as the narrator. She once “accidentally” brushed his wrist on the stairs at school, and she turns this memory over in her mind while lying on the beach. She also remembers how she saw the boy have a spontaneous nosebleed in her Latin class, which stunned her and caused her to faint. As far as readers know, the boy is unconscious of the narrator’s interest in him. His family life and circumstances remain mysterious to her, which causes her anxiety.
The Boy Quotes in A Memory
The A Memory quotes below are all either spoken by The Boy or refer to The Boy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Memory Quotes
My love had somehow made me doubly austere in my observations of what went on about me. Through some intensity I had come almost into a dual life, as observer and dreamer. I felt a necessity for absolute conformity to my ideas in any happening I witnessed.
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The narrator is obsessed with making observations of the world around her, and this passage illustrates how the experience of being in love for the first time has intensified this habit of observing. The fact of being in love makes the narrator all the more unrelenting in how she sees the world. It causes her to cling more tightly to her assumptions and to hold more firmly to her preconceived ideas about life. As a result of this tension between what she sees and what she believes, the narrator comes to move through life as both “observer and dreamer.” In Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque i
But this small happening which had closed in upon my friend was a tremendous shock to me; it was unforeseen, but at the same time dreaded; I recognized it, and suddenly I leaned heavily on my arm and fainted.
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In this passage, the narrator recalls the day she witnessed the boy she loves—whom she refers to here as “my friend”—get a nosebleed in Latin class. Though she ironically refers to this as “this small happening,” it becomes clear that the experience has marked her for life, potentially contributing to her lasting fear of blood. This memory follows a passage in which she has explained to the reader the seriousness that now flavors her observations and her need for life to conform to her preconceived ideas about it. As a result, she feels protected by the routine and predictability of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Volupta
I remember continuing to lie there, squaring my vision with my hands, trying to think ahead to the time of my return to school in winter. I could imagine the boy I loved walking into a classroom, where I would watch him with this hour on the beach accompanying my recovered dream and added to my love. I could even foresee the way he would stare back, speechless and innocent, a medium-sized boy with blond hair and unconscious eyes looking beyond me and out the window, solitary and unprotected.
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This passage makes up the final lines of the story. The narrator has just experienced a wave of grief and sorrow after taking stock of the bathers’ imprints on the beach that morning. After having ostensibly moved past the emotional intensity of that experience, she has returned to making observations, once again creating frames with her fingers to delineate her perspective. The return to the frames is significant here, as their lingering presence suggests that the narrator has not fully given up her childish habits. Rather, the limitations of her perspective remain, and she still has some growing up to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis
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The Boy Character Timeline in A Memory
The timeline below shows where the character The Boy appears in A Memory. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Memory
...day, she can still recall in perfect detail the moment she brushed the wrist of the boy she loves on the stairs at school. Though she calls him her “friend,” she and...
(full context)
...to come into “a dual life, as observer and dreamer.” She vividly remembers the day the boy she loves got a nosebleed in Latin class. This unexpected event sent a shock through...
(full context)
...surroundings through frames, she has a vision of the upcoming school year. She imagines seeing the boy she loves at school again, and then she imagines what it will be like in...
(full context)
