According to the Encarta dictionary, nostalgia can be defined as mixed feeling of happiness, sadness, and longing when recalling a person, place, or event from the past, or the past in general. Without nostalgia people wouldn’t be able to recall all the good or bad times in their lives. Nostalgia can either be good or bad. If nostalgia is seen in a good way then you would tend to remember the past in a good manner. Sometimes nostalgia is needed in situations of sadness so that you can remember the good old days of life, such as experiences when you were a child like running on the playground, or playing jump rope with friends. Nostalgia can also be very dangerous if you seem to remember things from the past such as the toll that war had on the country. If someone tended to remember the sad and depressing things for the past, it could keep the person from taking the next step to the future. In the novel “An Artist of the Floating World,” nostalgia is exemplified throughout the novel, with the character, Ono. “Quite often these days, in the evening down at Mrs. Kawakami’s, I find myself reminiscing about the Migi-Hidari and the old days. For these is something about Mrs. Kawakami’s place when Shintaro and I are the only customers there, something about sitting together up at the bar under those low-hung lights, that puts us in a nostalgic mood. We may start discussing someone from the past, about how much he could drink perhaps, or some funny mannerism he had” (75). Ono had run into an acquaintance, Dr. Saito, while boarding a train at the Tanibashi Station. While, they were briefly conversing, Dr. Saito had mentioned that he knew a mutual friend of Ono’s, Matuska. Matuska was a man that Ono used to work with at the Takeda firm. Bringing up the memory of Matuska only made Ono curious to see his old friend. So, Ono went and took a trip to see his friend. As Matuska and Ono were bringing up old time memories they had about the Takeda firm, they were remembering the past in this laughter, story like way. A way in which, Ono could relate to as a good nostalgic attitude. Ono also tends to remember the past of his town in this way that which can be put into words as blissful. Before the war, Ono’s explained his town as this place of honor, and respect. However, now, Ono views he town as a place of destruction, and finds himself wondering weather the streets and buildings are ever going to be rebuilt. He believes that the people and the community have changed since the war, that everything is different, in the streets of the town. Ono said that as he took a walk down to the town of, Arakawa, he could see brick apartment blocks looping around the wooden houses and abandoned factories that have been stacked with broken timber (85). Ono takes the nostalgic approach of sadness when he recalls his town as it used to be. His attitude of sadness and depression as he recalls his town is only causing him more pain as he takes the next steps towards life after the war. Ono is in-between with his nostalgic attitude towards his past. It is easily stated that Ono has good and bad memories from before and after the war. Ono is a man that has experiences so much throughout his life; of course, he is going to have lot of memories that are considered good, or bad. Ono is a good example of nostalgia, because he recalls memories which are good and bad and has feelings of sadness and happiness.
1 comment on Is nostalgia considered good or bad?
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robburton
said 6 months ago
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