The Rememberer

Given the unrealistic elements of the story, “The Rememberer” lends itself to a highly symbolic or even allegorical reading. Specifically, the story can be read as an allegory for the notion of human progress. Ben’s primary anxiety that people are “getting too smart” and thinking too much resonates with American cultural anxieties at the turn of the millennium as information and digital technology were quickly ingrained in everyday life.

However, Ben’s worry has a legacy in many philosophers, cultural critics, and authors who throughout time have given voice to a fear that something of humanity gets lost as humans pursue mastery over more and more things. After Ben has transformed into an ape, Annie notes that someone calls to tell him that a book on civilization that he ordered is ready to be picked up. The fact that the book is “out-of-print” indicates that the ideas Ben is interested in exploring as they relate to civilization are the ones that are no longer accepted. He wants to engage with ideas that have been lost (“out-of-print”) through replacement by newer, better ideas about humanity. Ben’s anxieties embody an age-old conflict of