The Memory Keeper
“The Memory Keeper” is the name of the camera that Norah buys for her husband as a gift. The name turns out to be ironic since David’s obsession capturing perfect moments in time stem from a desire to keep from remembering the worst moment of life: when he gave away his daughter.
The Camera Doesn’t Lie
The oldest adage about photography is that the camera doesn’t lie. David’s assertion to his son is ironic relative to this adage while also being a sincere observation of the truth that the adage is pure garbage:
“Photography is all about secrets.”
Secrets Exposed
One of the secrets that David’s camera captures is the development of a relationship between his wife and another man. An image is snapped even before the relationship has begun and before David has real reason to suspect anything of substance. Nevertheless, the image discomforting because he knows that it is a revelation of something. So, he decides to hide the secret by ironically exposing it to the light of day:
“Over the next hours, light would work on the exposed paper. The picture of Norah laughing with Howard would slowly darken until—within a day or two—it would be completely black.”
Happy Endings
Somewhere in his brain, David believes that giving away his daughter born with a birth defect indicating probably premature death from heart failure and then lying about her survival to his wife is the best possible choice for ensure a happy ending in his marriage. Unsurprisingly, the marriage rather quickly falls to pieces. Ironically, the little girl he callously abandons is precisely the thing which brings Caroline and Al together purely by random chance that very night and they go on to marry and enjoy the happily ever after.
Heartless
David’s justification for the single worst decision of his life is so deeply situated within the reality of his past that his nurse is convinced of his conviction:
“This poor child will most likely have a serious heart defect. A fatal one. I’m trying to spare us all a terrible grief.”
Conviction it may be, but heartless as well which only adds to the irony that it is David who dies of a heart attack after a lifetime of causing grief within his family.
