The first line of the essay says that memories come in various forms. They can be unique to a single person or shared with kin, a tribe, or a community. Memories are also like roads in some sort of way. One memory can lead to another one like a network of paths. Quinn suggests that memories are physical objects like genes passed down from a person’s parents. Each person’s memory bank is their own and unique to them because it is comprised of not only their own memories but the experiences of their ancestors. Quinn mentions that memories are either an “elixir, narcotic, stimulant, poison, [or] antidote.” This implies that a memory can affect the person in beneficial or harmful way. Memories of how a certain family or race was treated or what experiences it had in the past can either drive and motivate a person of that family or race or it can hinder and cripple them. Each person holds the victories and triumphs along with the pain and burdens of a family or race within themselves and must carry them each day.
This opening sentence informs the reader exactly how the various types of memories can affect a person and that it foreshadows what will be discussed throughout the piece. It shows that this essay will be about a person’s own story with influences of memories from their relatives, their friends, or other members of the same race or ethnic group.
