# Racial Memory and Atavism in Before Adam

> Theme guide for Before Adam by Jack London.

The protagonist's dreams are explained as inherited racial memories from his prehistoric ancestors, with his 'other-self' Big-Tooth representing a living connection to the Mid-Pleistocene era and the atavistic traits that persist in modern humans.

## Where it surfaces

- [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/epigraph): By stating 'their history is our history,' the epigraph invokes the concept of racial memory, suggesting that ancestral experiences are embedded within modern consciousness.
- [Before Adam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/before-adam): The chapter introduces the concept of racial memory, where the narrator experiences ancestral dreams.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/i): The narrator's dreams are presented as inherited memories from a prehistoric past, suggesting a racial or ancestral memory that surfaces in sleep.
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/ii): The narrator elaborates on his theory of racial memory, describing himself as a 'freak of heredity' with an unusually strong atavistic other-personality that recalls ancestral experiences.
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/iii): The narrator's dreams are presented as inherited memories of a prehistoric ancestor, a core example of racial memory and atavism.
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/ix): Red-Eye is explicitly called an atavism, a reversion to an earlier type, linking to the theme of racial memory.
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/chapters/xi): The narrator describes dreaming back through evolutionary history, from half-men to winged reptiles to primeval sea slime, illustrating inherited memories.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/themes/racial_memory_and_atavism
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/before_adam_se/themes