Whenever a change in our spiritual life occurs and such fragments surface, we believe we can remember them. But in reality, of course, memory fails us. Too many buildings have collapsed, too much rubble has accumulated in the moraines and the deposits are insurmountable. If I look at Berlin now, Michael writes, all I see is a dark background with a gray stain, a slate pencil drawing unclear numbers and letters in a gothic script, blurred and half erased with a damp cloth. (Chapter 7, pages 177-8) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get an original essayIn this passage, WG Sebald, the author of "The Rings of Saturn", shows how loss and war as well as feelings anxiety and fear of the unknown can change your perspective and potentially have a lasting impact. Immediately before this passage, Sebald had just emerged from a maze and found himself in the village of Middleton to visit the writer Michael Hamburger. Sebald establishes this passage by explaining that in November 1933, Michael and his entire family left Berlin to live in a stone house in Edinburgh. While passing from one place to another, something happens to them at Dover Customs that seems to reinforce the feelings of fear and anxiety about the situation as a whole. Michael's grandfather brought with him these two budgerigars, which I had no idea what they were, and they survived until now only to be impounded somehow. from another. A sentence later, I realize that parakeets are a species of bird. So they find themselves in an unfamiliar area after leaving their home in Berlin with virtually no physical memories of their time in Berlin except for the absolute essentials, and then their grandfather's beloved pets take them away. are tragically kidnapped. Michael explains how that moment, even though to outsiders it was probably just someone doing their job and possibly confiscating something they might deem dangerous, it was the start of childhood memories fading . This shows me that parakeets are more than just pets that symbolize the situation Michael and his family find themselves in. Personally, I couldn't even imagine having to uproot the only house I knew to go to an unfamiliar place. it’s “supposed” to be better. However, as Michael is bombarded with strange noises, smells, and sensations, as well as the external struggles that befall them, they also have internal struggles of anxiety and fear that seem to be a recurring theme. They don't know if this decision will be better for them in the long run, they blindly believe that Edinburgh will work for everyone and that the whole experience will be worth it. (PG 176)Now, for me to understand why this family is leaving everything they know, I had to do some research into what was happening in Berlin at the time. Was it a war they were fleeing? After my research, let's just say I was embarrassed to realize that World War II was taking place in this time period and I have no idea how that slipped my mind. Anyway, after the short moment of memory loss, I realized that this was a total moment of presupposition where Sebald assumes that he has no need to expose the circumstances that unfold, simply indicating a moment in the book before the passage for which it presents a reason. the events that occur afterwards. Which is extremely important in this context because it shows that Michael and his family,.