Memoirs of a Midget · Theme
Mortality and Memory
How Memoirs of a Midget develops Mortality and Memory.
The memoir is framed by the death of the narrator's mother and father, and she repeatedly contemplates ghosts, graves, and the persistence of memory, seeking to be remembered 'as if we had shared the world on equal terms.'
Where it surfaces
- Dedication
The dedication invokes the memory of the author's mother, directly engaging with themes of loss and remembrance.
- I
The chapter is built on vivid childhood memories, the death of great-aunt Kitilda, and the mother's 'absentness' foreshadowing loss.
- III
The discovery of the maggot-ridden mole carcass and the killing of the wren force the narrator to confront death and decay.
- IV
The chapter is dominated by the mother's death and the father's subsequent decline and death, with the narrator reflecting on her memories and regrets.
- V
The narrator reflects on her father's death, the funeral, and the choice to remember the living face rather than the dead, exploring how memory shapes grief.
- VI
The narrator recalls her mother's death, the loss of her parents, and the passing of time as she contemplates the sale and her birthday.
- VII
The narrator recalls her parents' graves and Miss Fenne's morbid conversation, while the dying cow and the fleeting beauty of nature evoke thoughts of loss.
- IX
The narrator recalls her mother's favorite hymn, her father's absence, and the melancholy brought by the church bells; Mrs. Bowater speaks of reunion on another shore.
- XXII
The tale of the hanged woman and the narrator's musings on flesh and spirit evoke themes of death, memory, and the haunting past.
- XXIX
Mr. Crimble's death dominates the chapter, with the narrator grappling with grief, guilt, and the finality of loss, symbolized by the book 'Holy Living and Dying.'
- The Inquest
Mr. Crimble's suicide forces the narrator to confront death and the haunting memory of his final days.
- XXXIII
The chapter centers on the memory of Mr. Crimble's suicide and how the world quickly adjusts to his absence, exploring the fragility of life and the persistence of memory.
- XXXVII
The news of Mr. Bowater's impending death and Mrs. Bowater's departure stirs thoughts of mortality, loss, and the fleeting nature of time.
- XLI
The narrator visits a church, reads an epitaph for Jenetta Parker, and reflects on her own smallness and the brevity of life.
- Monks’ House
The mother's illness and the decaying house evoke themes of mortality and the passage of time.
- XLIV
The narrator's morbid fascination with the well and the greyhound's 'jaws of destiny' evoke thoughts of death and the haunting persistence of memory.
- LIII
Mr. Anon's death and the narrator's vigil explore the fragility of life and the haunting memory of loss.
- LIV
The chapter is steeped in the narrator's fixation on death—their own and the one they believe they caused—and the haunting, fragmented memories that torment them.
- LV
The narrator looks back across intervening years, contemplates the passage of time, and hopes to be remembered by a friend.
