Emotion

Walter Bernstein’s memoir made it difficult to really get a sense of whom Bernstein actually was. He gave the reader little insight into his emotional state or thoughts about the events that he included in the book. In class we discussed the fact that he might be censoring himself. This made me think about the quotation early on in the book when he writes, “The best part of my childhood had been lived either on the street, playing ball, or in the movies. That was my real life; the fantasy life was what went on at home,” (Bernstein 5). He clearly shows that a detachment already exists between his real daily life and what he considers to be reality.
In Inside Out, certain scenes are written as though they were part of a script. I believe that this is indicative of Bernstein’s personality. He creates a memoir full of detached moments and very precise recollections. Even though the majority of the book contains an unconcerned tone that a lot of people seem to interpret as Bernstein editing the events of his life, he may not have actually been censoring himself. I think that this may be the way Bernstein sees the world. He really could not allow himself to be emotional about certain issues, which led to his seeming lack of concern. In fact, he seems to just view his life as a series of scenes and events that do not warrant a great deal of reflection. When Bernstein does feel an emotion, he writes more cinematically, tipping the reader off that this was an encounter or I interaction that he really cared about. I noticed that when there was an important event, such as the time Bernstein met Churchill or when he felt close to people around him, Bernstein would often write about two things, ‘embracing’ and food or drink. I noted about a dozen instances where Bernstein discussed what was eaten at a specific event such as, “Someone opened a bottle of wine and we toasted one another and the war and Tito and a federal Yugoslavia. Then we all embraced, which took awhile…” (Bernstein 118). In this example, Bernstein shows this event was significant to him because of the details that he included. It may seem to be a tiny detail, but it certainly seemed prevalent throughout the book.