A Reflection on The Comet’s Tail: A Memoir of Memory Essay Example

is so clear to me, an outsider, just like it is to Nawrocki.

Although she forgot the basics of speaking, motor skills, and reading, a few memories were clear to Nawrocki. Those memories are of her mother being diagnosed with cancer, and her mother’s death, which I found most surprising in the book. These memories can be considered flashbulb memories, which are are memories tied to a strong emotion such as sadness or anger. What surprised me is how Nawrocki was able to remember the position of the nurses station, a jar of purple liquid, and the word malignant (Nawrocki, 2018, location 183). The author forgot all basic functions, but her mother’s diagnosis and subsequent death was something that stuck with her. It’s amazing that even after experiencing retrograde amnesia, her brain was able to save those memories. It makes me wonder, what old memories that other people with retrograde amnesia have saved from their past.

The Comet’s Tail relates heavily to the theory of amnesia, amnesia being the topic of the book. Retrograde amnesia is forgetting past experiences/old memories (Oberleitner, 2018, slide 19). Nawrocki had to relearn things from her past, like holding a pencil, how to walk short distances, and how to use the bathroom (Nawrocki, 2018, location 357). Throughout the majority of the book, the author is creating a timeline of what happened, even before she was in the hospital. “I also kept a notebook with scribbles and streamlined day-to-day thoughts. As it turns out, these pages provide backstory, and even understory, for what would come” meaning at that time she was not sure if her journal entries were her brain unconsciously telling her

something could be wrong. As Nawrocki is taken to be rehabilitated, she is conscious but still does not remember. She would see herself smiling in pictures, but would question the christmas of that year. Things like christmas dinner, music, or the decoration of the tree doesn’t come to mind (Nawrocki, 2018, location 363). She just does not seem able to recall a lot of things after her illness, which the reader would come to learn is encephalitis. Although, Nawrocki does say she reclaims a certain memory.

The author goes into detail about her mother and her battle with cancer, relating this book to the topic of flashbulb memories. Flashbulb memories are “big “events” we can sometimes feel that we remember the event with perfect clarity” (Oberleitner, 2018, slide 20). The author could easily remember the setting of the hospital her mother was diagnosed in and the drive home: “That night, we drove home in the Chevy Suburban, I watched a solid white star follow me home. When I pointed it out to my sister Shelly, she told me it was just a satellite” (Nawrocki, 2018, location 183). This event happened to her whens he was in the tenth-grade, and she lost her memory when she was 19 years old, but by how the event is described it seems like it would have happened recently. Then Nawrocki recalls a year after the previous memory, in which she recalled how the doctor who told her mother she would only have a couple of weeks to live was dressed(Nawrocki, 2018, location 183). She was able to recall these vivid memories despite losing her memory, memories that hold a lot

of emotion and importance to her.

After all of what the author went through in the span of six months, I personally feel like I could handle the events of the book with a support system, similar to Nawrocki. She had to learn everything all over again. Not only talking, walking, and motel skills, but also learning about herself all over again. The amount of frustration she went through while going through therapy sounded difficult, “I three tantrums in occupational therapy over simple math problems or word games. I would cry, sulk, refuse to go further”. I never been something so life changing but in a way I understand why she was so irritated and upset, the whole event just seems mentally exhausting. But she had family, friends, and the staff of her rehabilitation center were supportive and wanted her to get better. By myself, it would be impossible, but with loving family and friends it would be easier. I feel like I wouldn’t feel alone during such a dark time in my like.