Memory and the Past Quotes in The Bourne Identity

Washburn says he can't be sure whether anonymous dude was a good person before he lost his memory. As the book goes along, though, this view goes out the window: Bourne is, was, and always has been a good person—and, in fact, a person who is good like him could not have had a bad past.

So is Washburn confused and wrong?Well, it's not exactly clear. What he says here isn't the view that prevails in the book… but the book can play tricks on us, too. Does the book ever look back and affirm that Washburn was wrong? Or does it leave the question open?

Is Bourne insane? He assaults people, steals, murders, kills, lies, and has occasional attacks that render him unable to function. And he doesn't remember who he is. Sooo…yes, in some sense he seems to be not quite all there. We doubt he's insane, but it's kind of fun to think about.

When you see italics in the novel, it's generally part of Bourne's consciousness speaking up (it's Bourne speaking to himself, in his head). In this case, the voice almost taunts him, asking who he is ("Mr. Smith?") and if his memory is gone. Bourne is telling himself to stop it…which is interesting, since he's telling himself to stop telling himself that he's not there. (Oh, it makes our brains hurt. Seriously.) The fact that there's someone speaking in that head (or even two someone's speaking, it sounds like) indicates that there is something left when memory's gone. There's a voice at least, even if Bourne often wishes there weren't.

Marie is telling Bourne that he can't condemn himself for his memories when he's not even sure what they are. What she's saying is that the memories might be false—and she turns out to be right.That's kind of of too bad, since the fact that the memories are false erases some of the most interesting questions raised here, like "are you ethically responsible for a past you can't remember?" What do you think?

In the 2002 film, Bourne does walk away from it: he finds out he's an assassin, and he says: No way; I'm not going to do this any more. The amnesia doesn't exactly make him a new person, but it does give him a chance to decide to be a new person.

In the book, Bourne doesn't have as much to walk away from, since he was a good guy all along. Here, the amnesia just means he has to prove to himself once more that he's a good guy. He has to re-find the good self that was always there, rather than make a new one.

Bourne's being flip, but the reference to money is interesting. There is quite a bit of discussion about money and economics in The Bourne Identity. The first thing that Bourne does after he's recovered from being shot at the beginning of the novel is go to Zurich to get money out of an account. And, of course, Marie is an economist. And, if you think about it, Bourne's memory actually does have a price of sorts, in the money he takes from Treadstone, and in the lives lost while he thrashes around trying to figure out what he's doing. There's a suggestion here, maybe, that memory can actually have real world consequences, that remembering or forgetting does have a price that is measured in the world outside one's head.

This is one of the places where Bourne's amnesia flashback is a lot like a Vietnam flashback (see "Symbols: Flashbacks"). Bourne's remembering the death of his wife and child in an airplane attack. Does the traumatic memory recur because he's an amnesiac? Or does it recur because he's a veteran? Or does it happen because he's perpetuating violence? Would he have these flashbacks even if he had his memory?

Bourne realizes that his memories of being an assassin aren't real: they're just the cover story he memorized in order to trap Carlos. The last thing he says is odd though; "Things you've been told…but you can't relive…because they're not you." That suggests a memory is only you if you relive it. But, of course, most memories aren't really relived—they don't happen again. By this logic, memories don't necessarily make you who you are…which is an idea that The Bourne Identity seems to endorse, at least in parts.

One of the few things Bourne remembers is that he's a chameleon, which is to say that he blends in with his surroundings. He remembers that he's no one. He's aided by Washburn, who figures it all out by looking at Bourne's surgery scars and other evidence. The no one he is doesn't seem, then, to depend on memory—he's nobody whether he remembers it or not.