Memory & Exile

“And memory was not madness was it, not even when the remembeed past piled up so high inside you that you feared the files of your yesterdays would become visible in the whites of your eyes. Memory was a gift. Is was a positive. It was a professional resource” (122) remarked Coloel. The first mention of the Coloel’s memory is described as “exceptional” (96). Later, his feelings regarding his memory progress until it is seen as a possible mental problem, which he refuses to seek help for fearing it will end his career. I find it interesting that Rashdie decided to use memory as a curse and a gift being that many of the books we read referred to exile and memory collaboratively.