Aimee Bender's "The Rememberer" offers an image of separation in a way that leans heavily on metaphor and imagery. This separation is likely relying on a commonality shared between a couple, one that kept them together. One half of the couple whose separation is shared in the story holds on tight to the relationship while the other lets go. At first, the latter character, Ben, does so with several shapeshifting thuds, turning into other mammals (baboon, ape), stuck on the land. The character is said to be in a 'reverse' evolutionary state. This is mentioned by Ben's partner, who does not let go until Ben, now a salamander, can no longer stay on land anymore. She lets go of Ben's detachment from his humanness, but does not let go of her attachment to her own humanness.
I like how the imagery and metaphor makes this story clear and have us thinking about it. With reverse evolution, it definitely made me though of humans and apes in the early life/homo sapiens. It gave image of his state, as to what he became with that sickness.
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