Tenth Lecture

Flashback: A flashback is defined as an interruption in the present of a vivid memory set in the past. There are a variety of things that can cause a flashback to occur, which include songs, food, people, places, or similar events to those in the past. Through flashbacks, we are able to reflect upon experiences we have had in life, both positive and negative, and apply them to the present. Flashback is one of the most popular literary devices used in writing . A flashback typically is implemented by:

 The narrator tells another character about past events  The narrator has a dream about past events  The narrator thinks back to past events, revealing the information only to the reader  The narrator reads a letter that prompts back to an earlier time

Significance of Flashback in Literature Authors use flashbacks in their works for many different reasons. One key reason is to fill in elements of one or more characters’ backstories. Flashbacks can help the reader understand certain motivations that were otherwise unclear, or provide characterization in other ways. Flashbacks can also create suspense or add structure to a story. Some authors have chosen to tell their stories entirely in flashback, such as in Homer’s Odyssey, in which Odysseus tells his story to a listener, or Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, in which the character Marlow tells his fellow sailors about a journey he once took up the Congo River. Other authors, like Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse Five and Julio Cortázar in Rayuela, choose to tell their stories completely out of chronological order. Thus, it’s more ambiguous where the “present moment” really is, and thus it’s harder to say what is flashback, what is present, and what is flash- forward.

The Flashback in the Old Man and The Sea:

In the book The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the flashback technique in order to characterize Santiago and develop key themes of the novel, such as Santiago’s connection with nature and what it means to be a hero. Hemingway employs several flashbacks as an effective technique that develops Santiago’s character as he recalls past occurrences in order to renew his strength of will. There are three flashbacks in particular that are critical to the development of this story. The first flashback describes a time when Santiago associated himself with the marlins. The second flashback occurs when Santiago arm-wrestled the town’s strongest competitor. The third flashback discusses lions, as lions symbolize strength Santiago’s strength of will and s sense of heroic renewal throughout the novel.

Santiago’s first flashback was a memory about hooking a female marlin and “all the time the male had stayed with her” until she tired and did not want to fight anymore. The male marlin acted almost upset to see that Santiago had caught his female mate. Santiago refers to killing the female marlin as an act of “treachery” . There was a connection between the old man and the creatures around him . “Fish I love you and I respect you” this is what said when he was chasing the Marlin. The second flashback was the recollection of the Negro episode serves to inspire Santiago further, remembering that he had been called a champion, like DiMaggio, who always was a source of inspiration to him. He also often recalled the lions on the African beach; they inspire him as symbols of majestic strength…etc.