In “Silver Water,” Amy Bloom uses memories to contrast her characters
as they are now and as they were then. The first thing that happens in the
story is a memory of Rose belting out opera in a parking lot as a young girl. Violet says that this memory is important for all of Rose’s therapists to know,
seeing as Rose is no longer that way.
The other memory we see is when Violet goes to the zoo and
becomes upset that the animals do not get to go home at closing time. This
reveals a lot about Violet and later reveals a lot about Rose, with her last
words being, “closing time.” This shows us that Rose feels like an animal in a
zoo and lets Violet know that Rose is finally is able to go home. It is also a nice sister moment because it is a memory specific to them.
Oh yes, memories make for great character details and backstory. They can be very telling as well in terms of what a character desires. My problem with writing them is flashbacks feel kind of corny to me, but I hope I can find better ways of slotting them into a short story.
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