I read the short story that Memento is based on, “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan. I’ve included the link so you can check it out.
The main character in the story is named Earl, and he is in much the same predicament as Leonard. He can only hold memory for about ten minutes at a time, but remembers that his wife was raped and murdered by the same man who caused his head injury.
Even more so than the movie, the story focuses on Earl’s ability to manipulate himself. It begins with a letter written with “I”’s and “you”’s rather than names, which at first led me to believe (and I think it was supposed to) that it was written by another character. However I soon realized that this letter along with all the other letters and notes in the story were written by past Earl to future Earl. The first few letters and notes all try various ways to convince Earl to break out of the hospital and find the man who raped his wife. The first letter explains the situation and encourages him to step up, a note accuses him of cowardice, the second letter tells him he has nothing to live for so why not, and another note tries to scare Earl out by telling him that “THESE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU” (Nolan).
However, Earl also seems much less willing than Leonard to trust his own handwriting. The third person narrative includes different options for Earl’s actions, such as when he sees the picture of his wife’s funeral “maybe he begins to cry. Maybe he just stares silently at the picture” (Nolan). It is as if Earl has lived this scene several times before and sometimes his reaction changes. After reading these notes, instead of immediately acting upon them like Leonard would, Earl usually just closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. But apparently one of the times he reads it, the manipulation of his former self finally takes effect and he makes his escape.
As with all the novels we have read, this story has a message for the readers. A person is made up of many different personas that reveal themselves at different times, just like Earl is a different person every ten minutes, with different emotions and different reactions. But, “for a few minutes of every day, every man becomes a genius” (Nolan). This genius persona finds ways to tell the other personas what to do. In Earl’s case, he writes himself letters and leaves himself notes. Earl is just an extreme example of a person’s past influencing his future.
I recognized a quote that the movie took from the story: “After all, everybody else needs mirrors to remind themselves who they are. You're no different (Nolan).” Just like Earl and Leonard, sometimes people get off track and lose sight of their goals. At these points they need a reminder from their past selves.
Your point about the notes and letters that Earl writes to himself ties in really nicely with Emma’s post above. There’s something permanent about putting down our thoughts onto a piece of paper, changing a mere thought to a tangible phrase that can be physically touched. Like Emma said, notes like these create a more physical connection to the outside world in a way that is very different from a memory merely floating as an image in one’s mind. Perhaps this is why Earl or Leonard writes the notes. Maybe living with a condition that disconnects him so much from the world prompts him to find another connection. Notes and photographs serve this purpose; because others can read or see them, they connect Earl and Leonard to the outside world, a feeling that is usually absent in their lives.
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