Literary notes about remember (AI summary)
The word “remember” in literature is a remarkably versatile device that can evoke everything from divine mandates and historical covenants to personal recollections and casual reminders. In sacred texts like the Douay-Rheims Bible, it serves as an imperative to uphold divine promises, as seen in passages that urge the faithful to recall God's covenant with patriarchs ([1], [2], [3]). In contrast, novelists employ “remember” to capture the immediacy and intimacy of human experience—whether in a brief conversational cue like “You remember that?” ([4]) or in extended reminiscences that link personal history with evolving identity ([5], [6]). Additionally, the term sometimes acts as a rhetorical command, urging characters to bear in mind moral lessons or the weight of past events ([7], [8], [9]). Overall, “remember” functions as both a narrative anchor and a call to reflection, bridging public legacy with private memory across genres.
- May God be gracious to you, and remember his covenant that he made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants: 1:3.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name's sake, and do not disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - You remember that?
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - Him—I just shut my eyes and remember, but Borís...
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - "I shall remember that," was all David answered to that last promise of hers, and three months later he took her at her word.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott - Remember!
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - For Heaven’s sake remember that!’
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - “Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane's disposition as you do.”
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen