How is a house a place of memories ?

A house is both a memory box and a state of mind. In other words, before becoming a dreamlike figure or imagined place of past-future of the inhabitants, it shelters and makes possible the process of memory. For it reveals an intimacy either to the interior elements or to the exterior details and is always a figure of the present. But, in what way does it constitute a place of memory? To discover the answer to this question, continue reading this section.

A house contains a personal and familiar universe

As a figure of the present, a house draws a line between the self and others, between the plural and the group, while exhibiting mechanisms of openness. You have a peek here. Indeed, walls, doors and windows are the elements that facilitate dialogue within a house. More explicitly, the door allows to open to the welcome friend and to protect oneself against the enemy. 

A house is then presented as the place of hospitality and hostility. Moreover, the door includes the threshold which represents the distinctive mark of the semantic set of the house since it is the corridor which authorizes and prohibits the access to the latter.

A house allows one to exhibit one's memories

A family residence implies a lived experience, that is to say that it is linked to the origin, to filiation as well as to an inscription in the family over many generations. In fact, it is the place in which the family narrative is constructed, something common. Thus, it allows to tell stories, to create legends because its role is to gather to tell, whether the stories are distorted or not. 

Moreover, a house allows to tell stories in common thanks to the gallery of portraits adorning the walls. These portraits make it possible to share an adventure or a personal or family story with children or guests. In addition, a house is a place of archives, because it allows to tell a story thanks to old photos or old objects.