Transcript The Memory Keeper*s Daughter

Presentation by: Michelle Scavuzzo
• Was born on May 4, 1958
• Graduated from Colgate University
• Wrote first short story in college called
“Cords” which later became called “The
Way It Felt to be Falling”
• Wrote a collection of shorts stories called,
“The Secrets of a Fire King
• Currently teaches writing at University of
Kentucky
• The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was her
first novel
• It spent 122 weeks on the New
York Time Best Sellers List
• 20 of those weeks as #1
• Won the Kentucky Literary Award
and the British Book Award

Context
› The novel starts in
March1964 and ends in
September1989.
› A major part of the novel
is about down syndrome
and this illness was very
misunderstood at that
time.
› Lack of knowledge about
the disease caused
children to be sent to
institutions at the first
sign of the mental
disability.

Setting
› There are two stories in
this novel linked through
a lie.
› The story of David Henry
and his family takes place
in Lexington, Kentucky.
› The story of Caroline Gill
and her family takes
place in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania

The novel begins when Norah Henry goes into labor and
unexpectedly delivers twins. A perfect little boy named Paul
and a smaller little girl named Phoebe. In a panic David
Henry, Norah Henry’s husband, gives his daughter away to
Caroline Gill, the nurse there helping the delivery. After
seeing his younger sister, June died of a heart defect caused
by downs syndrome, David makes this decision in the hope of
protecting his family. Caroline Gill takes the young girl in as
her own child and raises her in Pittsburgh. Phoebe grows up
and so does Paul. Phoebe is slow but learns at her own pace
and Paul blooms into a wonderful musician. Both children
know nothing of one another and David and Norah’s marriage
crumbles under the weight of this lie. After David’s
unexpected death Caroline Gill returns to Kentucky to share
the secret to Norah and Paul.
David Henry
Paul Henry
Norah Henry
Phoebe “Henry”
Gill
Caroline Gill
Caroline becomes Phoebe’s
“adoptive” mother.

David Henry is a made up identity. David tries to run from his childhood
by not correcting a typo on a college acceptance letter. Instead David
takes this new name as an opportunity to start over and to “change the
world”. Ironically David spends the rest of his life trying to heal the
affects of all the lies he tells. David Henry is very protective of his family.
He tries to shelter Norah from the pain he saw his parents go through as
his sister June died from down syndrome. However hard David tires to
protect Norah, he ends up hurting her, when he tells her that her baby
girl died. David then tries to run from his own guilt of giving away their
daughter by withdrawing into photography. David’s character uses
photography as an outlet; trying to capture and freeze a moment that
could out weigh the moment when he handed Caroline his daughter.
David sees the pain the lie causes Norah and because of the guilt he
feels over the lie he turns a blind eye to Norah’s affairs. David tells the
secret only to a girl named Rosemary whom he finds when he wanders
back to his childhood home. A weight is lifted from his heart upon that
confession and shortly after David dies of a heart attack. David blames
himself for everything bad that happens to his family.

Norah Henry starts the novel out as a young woman that lives
in a bubble of happiness, however when that bubble pops and
her daughter dies she turns into an overly emotional woman
who sees her son as a ticking time bomb. She tries so
desperately to hold time into place and protect herself from
an unpredictable world. She drifts into a depression that
forever puts up an icy wall between her and her husband. She
resents David, saying that he doesn’t care. The distance
between her and David begins to affect her relationship with
her son, Paul. She deals with the emptiness she feels inside
by having countless affairs and by becoming a work-a-holic.
When Caroline reappears and explains that Phoebe is in fact
alive and well this almost drives her insane. She begins to
hate David for dying and leaving her to deal with this burden
on her own, however she then realizes the reason for her
failed marriage, her strained relationship with Paul, and much
more.

Caroline Gill is a young woman who lives a simple life. She
follows the rules that are set into place for her by society. She
secretly is in love with David but she is too shy to reveal this even
when he is not married. The night that David hands Phoebe to
her, she is shocked and does as she is told, taking the baby to the
institution. However when Caroline takes Phoebe and decides to
raise her as her own, this choice changes Caroline. She becomes
an outspoken, opinionated woman who will fight for what she
wants. She fights for Phoebe’s education and medical care, she
lives a life of uncertainty and trials, and she marries a man she
meets on the road; all of this is not in the cards society gave her
to play. After David dies, Caroline realizes that she is not the
heroic individual that she makes herself out to be and that in
taking Phoebe she is partly at fault for the secret that tears Norah
apart.

Paul is a typical boy who is adventurous, rebellious,
and witty. He grows up with his mother and father
together, yes, but sees that their marriage is anything
but perfect. He resents his father for going against his
musical dreams and he hates his mother for cheating
on his father. He blames himself for his sister’s death
and always thinks that there was something that he
could have done to save her. He drifts from his parents
and begins traveling abroad to study music where he
is told that his father has died of a heart attack. Grief
stricken, Paul returns to the states only to find that his
sister is alive and that she is mentally retarded. This
idea horrifies David. He believes that by meeting her
she will become his burden.

Phoebe is a happy, carefree girl who learns early
in life that she is different. She learns at a slow
pace but doesn’t let her disabilities get in the way.
As Phoebe gets older she learns how to hold a job
at a copy place where she thrives and makes new
friends. She meets Robert there, the man she tells
her mother that she wants to marry. Phoebe does
not see the sadness that the world offers people,
yet she is very good at sensing when other people
are upset. Phoebe tries to be independent by
riding the bus to work alone and taking care of
her cat, Rain; however her naïve outlook on the
world jeopardizes her safety. Phoebe feels that
everyone is good a heart.




Bree: is Norah’s sister. She is Norah’s foil character. She lets life
do what it will without fear, in other words she is a hippy. She
helps Norah try to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Al: is Caroline’s husband. He is never hurt by the lie that Phoebe
is not Caroline’s daughter. His love for Phoebe helps her become
the person that she is, down syndrome or not.
Rosemary: is a young girl whom David finds living in his old,
abandoned childhood home. He brings Rosemary home after he
discovers that she is alone, scared , and pregnant. Rosemary is
the only person outside the original lie with whom he shares the
secret. He flat out tells her that he gave away his daughter and by
doing so somehow frees himself of most of the guilt.
Michelle: makes an appearance very briefly in the novel. She is
Paul’s girlfriend. She pushes away Paul’s wish for marriage and
children. In a way she is a mixture of Caroline’s strength of will
and Norah’s stubbornness.




The need for society
to accept
developmentally
disabled children.
The joys and trials of
raising a child.
The weight of secrets.
The sorrow of a
crumbling marriage.


Photography
Freezing Time

The way in which the
author narrates the
novel by shifting back
and forth from David’s
life with Paul and
Caroline’s life with
Phoebe. By putting their
lives parallel to one
another the reader is
shown just how much
the lie affects all of their
lives.



The sections of the book
divided by the date.
The foil characters of
Norah and Caroline who
find out in the end that
they are not that
different.
Flashbacks are used to
show regret.