Reply To: “The Lost Mariner” (Year 1, Gr. 1)

[Anonymous]

In the essay the author lists many examples of cases both confirming and questioning Buñuel’s sentence, discussing mainly the case of Jimmie G., which, at the first glance proves that “life without memory is no life at all”, but actually shows that there is more to life than remembering the past or even the present. After losing a big part of his memory and the ability to remember any recent events Jimmie was disoriented, confused and even delusional – thinking he was 19, when in reality he was a man in his late fourties with gray hair. Even though he maintained his skills, like using Morse code and he was intelligent, great with puzzles etc., he didn’t feel like he was alive, he even said that he couldn’t feel anything at all. This would prove that “our memory is our reason, our feeling (…)”. But Jimmie, as the author writes, “found himself” in spiritual activities and he learned to enjoy life by engaging in gardening. He had a will to live, so even without his memory he wasn’t nothing.