William Lo

The dynamic relationships between History and Memory are a convoluted and multi-faceted process. Mark Bakers polyphonous text The Fiftieth Gate, Henry Singers 9/11 The Falling Man and the September 11 Digital Archive exhibit an innate understanding of this dynamic relationship as all composers aim to persuade the responder that even with history and memory, the past cannot be fully recovered. The Fiftieth Gate echoes Napoleons quote History is a version of past events that people have decided to agree upon demonstrating the flaw of historical records as it emphasises on superficial analysis of archival data. Similarly, memory is fragmented and flawed which is demonstrated through the personal recounts in September 11 Digital Archive. Ultimately, the texts illustrate the incomplete nature of history and memory by itself and the amalgamation of the two elements attempts to heighten a greater understanding of the past. Bakers aim to attain an improved understanding of the past displays the complementing nature of history and memory. While both are inherently flawed, the blending of the two elements allows the strengths of their counterpart to ameliorate the degree of their limitations. The interdependent nature of history and memory becomes apparent in the recreation of a multi-layered understanding of the death of Bakers grandfather. Yossls recollection of his fathers death is fragmented and time-disoriented. The impact of the loss of his father is reflected in his abrupt sentences, Then they buried the ashes. That was it. I had no father. Yossls oral recount mediates the historical records in Gate 20, transforming the unemotional official records into a personal translation that allows Baker to explore the significance of this event to Yossl. Equally, historical records are used to provide important details that memory omits as Baker notes that he turn[s] to archives to fill in blank spaces in my fathers prayers which authenticates Yossls recollections. Although the truth of the past can never be fully attained, the synchronization of the selected information allows Baker to present an improved understanding of the intangible representation of the Holocaust. As displayed on the September 11 Digital Archive, the integration of history and memory provides new and various perspectives on the September 11 terrorist attack. Individuals share their recollections of the event through personal anecdotes and objects, which are arranged in an interactive hypertext and signifies their collective memory. The websites opening statement reveal their purpose to attempt to collect, preserve, and present the history of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. This is culminated with the pun in the slogan saving the histories of September 11, 2001 which implies that the website saves the memories of the event and also electronically save the archival data. Hence, entail the notion of preserving both history and memory to represent a heightened understanding of the past event. The partners of the website, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History act as an authentication and its emotive slogan Bearing witness to history reinforces the idea of adjoining emotions with history. Different perspectives also increase the validity of accounts, exemplifying the necessity for the interplay of history and memory. Bakers post factum depiction of the Holocaust introduces the dynamic relationship of History and Memory through the limited connotative nature of language. As Derrida incites, language is metaphorical and would render all reports as translation, not the event itself. The opening and closing sentence It always begins in blackness, until the first light illuminates a hidden fragment of memory represents the inability of history alone to explain an event, and emphasises the fragmentation and disorganised flow of memory. Baker authenticates the memories of his parents through the use of documentation; however, in the case of Genia history neglects her existence as there is no evidence to prove her survival, no tattoo or institution to support her memory. Throughout the text, Baker includes the spontaneity and emotion through their unaltered perspectives to humanise his mothers character and allow us to assess the validity of her narration. By juxtaposing his educated, controlled voice with his parents instinctive, natural voices he reveals how language ultimately influences our perspective of representation and heightens the paradoxical relationship between history and memory. Henry Singer documentary 9/11: The Falling Man attempts to document the September 11 terrorist attack and reveals the inherent limitations and contradictions that occur in the process of discovering the falling man. In the photo of the man, vector lines generated by the tower are juxtaposed with the small figure falling and exemplify the fragility of life. However, the world preferred to remember the heroic images of the rescuers and accompanied by the voice-over that no one wanted to confront the existence of jumpers suggesting that the documentation of history is subjective and selective. Conversely, the documentary believed that the jumper should not be excluded because they died in a way which makes us uncomfortable and should be identified as he was a harrowing symbol of 9/11. Furthermore, the limited time to recover and identify jumpers, resulted in all deaths to be ruled as homicide rather than suicide which is paralleled in The Fiftieth Gate as people recorded as unknownmeans that he died between 1940 and 1945, an indication of the limited ability of history to present the past. This is further accentuated in Gate 42 as Baker attempts to recreate the undocumented final hours of the life of his grandmother, Hinda. The limited ability of history to document past events is illustrated in the irretrievable identity of the falling man and as Baker asserts, the final moments can never be retrieved by history. Nor can memories. However, when historical data is limited, memory tries to embellish and create a character to evoke a response on the responders memory as seen in the attempt to distinguish the falling man. Mark Bakers polyphonous text The Fiftieth Gate, the September 11 Digital Archive and Henry Singers 9/11: The Falling Man all show representations of the past as a convoluted process. The relationship between history and memory is shown as a dynamic continuum whereby the amalgamation of eclectic sources offers eminence and heightened understanding of the past. It is through the acknowledgement of the validity and differing perspectives that I believe we can attain a broader view and can therefore start to distinguish the significance of history.