Memento Mori Short Story Point Of View

Words: 464
Pages: 2

Memento Mori: Confusion Through Narration
What would one expect the a typical story to be? The point of view shifts in “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan is used to try and confuse the readers like how Earl feels when he losses his memory every ten minutes. Throughout the story, the point of view switches, every other section, from first person point of view to second person point of view. The sections that are first person point of view is clearly italicized and the author uses words like “I guarantee it” and “I don’t know how many times you’ll have to read this before you listen to me” to emphasize that this narrator is talking to someone else. It also shows the internal views that Earl has. In the second section, the reader finds out that the person that is referred to as “you” in the first section is to Earl. The sections that are third person point of view is used to juxtapose an external view of Earl’s surroundings and how he is reacting to his notes to himself.
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The narrator is addressing “you” and the readers are left very confused, not knowing who “you” is referring to. The author writes “But give it five minutes, maybe ten. Maybe you can even go a whole half hour before you forget.” this gives the readers a hint that the narrator is experiencing frequent memory loss. In section 2, readers are able to figure out that the narrator was addressing Earl as “you”. Readers are left very confused, not knowing who wrote these “notes”. In section 3, the author writes “Time is theft” and “Time steals your nerve” to emphasize that his condition is very frequent memory