Reconstruction of Memory - Leah Bradstreet

Posted by Leah Bradstreet in College English · Pahomov/Rhymer · C Band on Monday, December 17, 2018 at 9:31 am

Sometimes, Mr. Brown would count the holes in the ceiling to pass the time. One, two, three… An hour to go after he had finished the day’s office work and it had been sent to HQ, Mr. Brown was not allowed to leave until the end of the day. It was a friendly enough work environment, but people often found Mr. Brown hard to approach or boring and no one liked starting a conversation with him unless it was unavoidable. At work, Mr. Brown was alone. That didn’t mean he wanted to be. When Mr. Brown had lost count, the clock finally clicked to 6:00 and it was time to clock out. He unlocked the door to his little basic apartment. Keys went on the counter, he shrugged his suit off and slipped into softer pajamas. His bed was calling his name, but he was not tired. From under his bed, he pulled out the most expensive thing he owned besides his home. His laptop. Aptly so, for it was also the most important thing he owned. He opened up a web browser and clicked the only bookmarked tab he had. He was going to watch his favorite TV show. It was his favorite because of the way it made him feel. He smiled for the first time all day when he clicked play. From there, Mr. Brown experienced 40 minutes of rare almost constant laughter. As the credits rolled up, he sighed and ruminated over the episode in an attempt to commit it to memory and carry it around with him. Hearing it ringing in his ears would last him the rest of the long week. He was feeling especially down today, so he tried to dig deeper into the cache and pull out the best memory of the show he could find to push out a lasting smile. Until he got hungry enough to make himself dinner, Mr. Brown stared at the ceiling, watching the characters joke around with each other in his head.

This passage came from one of the short memories written in the class exercise. Originally, the memory was from a specific episode. However, I ended up adapting it and simplifying the idea into a simple unnamed episode. Mr. Brown is meant to symbolize a dramatized version of loneliness. He finds solace in this TV series where the characters make jokes and live carefree lives. He sees this as what he wants in life, and it makes him smile. When the characters are in his ears, he does not feel so alone.

Comments (3)

Zahira Tucker

This piece succeeded in the job of making Mr.Brown a metaphor of loneliness where with a simple thing can fill that void. The show definitely gives him a sense of pleasure and contentment. I am thinking which parts of the song are inspiration for the writing. I am also wondering who influenced your piece from the books we read and short supplements we read.

Nzinga Suluki-Bey

I think you really helped the reader see your intern on each character. You show the reader the different emotions and that whatever makes you happy hold on to it when you are lonely. I want to see more of the two authored,

Rebecca Snyder

The piece succeeded in expressing loneliness and simple pleasures that can bring joy. The TV show obviously hits at a peak in his pleasure and helps him lose himself. I'm still wondering what literary techniques you used to convey that this is truly a memory.