Which literary technique is described as the movement back in time in order to recount events that happened before?

What is the meaning of the word checking as it is used in this sentence from the second paragraph of the passage?

Read this excerpt from "hope, despair, and memory" and answer the question. and yet it is surely human to forget, even to want to forget. the ancients saw it as a divine gift. indeed if memory us to survive, forgetting allows us to go on living. how could we go on with our daily lives, if we remained constantly aware of the dangers and ghosts surrounding us? the talmud tells us that without the ability to forget, man would soon cease to learn. without the ability to forget, man would live in a permanent, paralyzing fear of death. only god and god alone can and must remember everything. which of the following demonstrates one of the metaphors and its meaning in the above excerpt? forgetting = a divine gift forgetting = danger remembering = ability to learn remembering = a divine gift

[v]ast numbers of our people are compelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing, cheating, flattering, suborning, forswearing, forging . . which satirical element is most dominant in the passage above?