Momento Mori: Earl

Character Description
Memento Mori: Earl

In “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan, the reader is introduced to an intriguing character by the name Earl. Earl is an average, “run of the mill” man, who (like most others) has a few quirks that set him aside from the crowd. The beginning of the story reveals that Earl’s wife was murdered. Like most strive to do, Earl strives for revenge for her death. He takes the initiative to seeking out his revenge by attempting to track down the murderer. As other stories have shown, mixing business with murderous types of people can lead to bad situations. Earl’s tracking skills lead him to certain people wanting to kill him but this does not ruin his determination to finding his wife’s killer. Throughout the story, the reader also discovers some traits about Earl that are not so average. First, he refers to himself as a “ten-minute man” because he goes to sleep or “blacks out” after being awake for ten minutes (roughly). Each time he awakes, there is a letter written in the second person discussing past events as well as providing instruction. Eventually, Earl writes a note himself. This was indication that Earl is a personality of a person with multiple-personality syndrome. Earl appears to be the “average” personality out of the others. From things like laughing at the need for someone to hide at note about hiding a note, laughing at the thought of someone needing a half-hour to brush his teeth, or wondering where the location of a watch indicate Earl is different from his other