"I think therefore I am” : memories and individuality in dystopian novels

• Main Author: Eng, Louisa Siew Lynn
• Other Authors: Sim Wai Chew
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52205
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The basis of this thesis is Jefferson A. Singer and Peter Salovey’s argument of what makes a person “unique, different from all others, is his or her set of personal memories”, also known as “self -defining memories”. As the term explicitly suggests, self- defining memories are an individual’s personal memories which helps him to understand himself better through self –reflection and evaluation, reflecting on his past in order for self improvement. Self improvement lies in the understanding of one’s self as an individual in order for a person to know what makes him unique from the rest of society. Following this line of argument, Rafaella Baccolini emphasizes the need for memory as an “understanding of oneself and of the past, but also of the present and the future”, again highlighting how the individual’s memories serve as a fundamental basis for his identity (Dark Horizons 118).