A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In the story “A Mason Dixon Memory”, Dondre Green was giving his speech for a scholarship, but was discriminated against and declined the scholarship. One of the listeners, Davis, recalls a time when he was in a similar situation. In “The Sand Castle”, Masha brings her grandchildren to the beach to make a sand castle. She recalls once when she was a little girl and went to do the same thing with her own parents. The flashback from “A Mason Dixon Memory” would be Davis’s memory of his childhood, and the one in “The Sand Castle” would be Masha’s remembrance of her childhood.
In order to understand the full function of a flashback, it is crucial to find the similarities of the past, the flashback, and the present, when the story happens. These similarities help us understand what the author really wants us to know, and what they are trying to convey to us in emphasis. In “A Mason Dixon Memory”, Davis and Green were both discriminated against, but both had true friends who kept with them even when others did not. This shows that it is always important to have true friends with us who will stay with us even in the darkest times. In “The Sand Castle”, the similarity between the past and the present would be that both characters at different times were going to the beach as a vacation trip, and that they both built sand castles. Though this event occurs a very long time in the future, as in 60 years, it still further exhibits the characteristics as well as necessary functions of the flashback. Thus, the similarities between the past and the present is an important part to analyze on the road to fully understand flashbacks.
Just as we will look at the similarities, we will also take a look at the differences that the past and the present might have. These similarities are like examples of the main points that the author wants to convey to us. Understanding these can help us greatly and more deeply analyze the entire function of the flashback. In “A Mason Dixon Memory”, Green’s situation was that he was trying to get a golf scholarship, while Davis was trying to get in a park. Also, Davis was stopped by something very specific, which was the Mason Dixon Line. Even when these examples are so different, they both show examples of the discrimination, which is the most important thing of all. On the other hand, in “The Sand Castle”, before, global warming did not exist, and after, global warming has suddenly become a very pressing issue that is causing many problems across the globe. These both show the contrast of global warming before and after. Therefore, looking at the differences between the past and the present is also very useful when understanding the function of the usage of flashbacks.
As authors use flashbacks in their stories, they always want it to cause an impact on their readers. These impacts can come in many forms, and are meant to have the readers understand a particular idea, which links very specifically to the similarities of the past and the present. The differences, in this case, supply readers with examples of the main point. In “A Mason Dixon Memory”, the impact of the flashback is for readers to understand that segregation is very bad and it is our job to stop it. Also, the story shows that even today, segregation and discrimination still exists as the remnants of the past. In “The Sand Castle”, the author was trying to make readers understand that the global warming issue is very pressing and it is of the utmost importance for us to do our best to stop it. As you can see, all of the similarities and differences all lead up to the one point of the final message that the author is trying to convey, the impact that the author wants to make on the readers.
Flashbacks are important parts of literature, and there are many reasons why authors might want to choose to utilize flashbacks in their literature. Flashbacks are excerpts from the story that explain the backstory of some kind in order for readers to have a better understanding of what was happening in the story. As readers, it is very important for us to know the function of flashbacks and what they are for. When looking at a story, especially the past and present parts, we should first find the similarities that happened in both the past as well as the present. This can give us a general idea of what the author wants to convey, or the impact the author wants to give to the readers, through the parts of the flashback. These ideas can greatly benefit us throughout our lives, and will remain as an impact no matter where or who we are.
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