How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Quote #4
Joel is in his apartment, collecting everything that has an association with Clementine and stuffing it into a garbage bag. When he goes to Lacuna, the people there have him look at and think about the memories associated with these items.
Lacuna uses items to start the mind map that will allow them to find and eradicate the correct memories in Joel's mind. But these aren't just random items Gondry threw together for these scenes; they're actually found throughout the movie. We don't want to give anything away, but try finding some of these items scattered through other scenes.
Quote #5
HOWARD: There's an emotional core to each of our memories, and when you eradicate that core it starts its degradation process. By the time you wake up in the morning, all the memories we've targeted will have withered and disappeared, as in a dream upon waking.
This is pretty spot-on when it comes to how memory actually works. Emotions are attached very closely to memory—especially memories of smell, thanks to our brain structure—so it would make sense that getting rid of memory would entail erasing the emotion associated with it. Unfortunately, the result is technically brain damage, which, despite Howard's reassurance, is a scary thought.
Quote #6
Joel shifts between emulating his memories and commenting on them. Sometimes he even mimics what he knows people will say.
Joel has an interesting relationship with his memories. Sometimes he seems outside of them—like when he's talking to Clem about ways to escape, or when he's narrating what's happening. But at other times, he seems to be stuck in the past, forced to act out what has happened. In the first Clemory, Joel chases after her in his car saying, "Let me give you a ride home"—which we assume is what really happened. But then immediately after this, he starts yelling at her that he is erasing her and that he's happy about it. Joel's consciousness is always in a state of flux.