Taking a trip down nostalgia lane.....

I often find myself thinking about past memories and reviving old feelings. I have come to realize that I have a tendency to block out bad memories and try to focus on happier times. I think I figured that by doing this I would be a happier and more optimistic person, something that I used to strive for. After some serious thought I have come to realize that this may be a dangerous form of nostalgia. I have always felt that I have learned from past mistakes, but I now realize that I have blocked out many past mistakes because I don’t like the feelings associated with those memories.

I feel that learning about someone’s past is the best way to get insight into that person. What if that person is like me though and does not open up about harder times, can you truly get to know that person if they deny the bad memories? Can someone truly move on with their life if they are constantly living in the past?

In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World, Ishiguro uses nostalgia to show the reader insight into Masuji Ono’s life. Ono’s memories start out subtle but evolve to give the reader an in-depth view of Ono’s character. Ono longs for Japan to be how it was and enjoys looking back on better times. It seems that Ono has chosen which memories he wants to keep in his mind and has blocked out many of the unpleasant ones. However, the memories that Ono chooses to remember seem to be slightly altered to perfection. “Every now and then, I see someone in the street, and I think I know them and I should greet them. But then I look at them again and I’m not so sure” (Pg. 75).

Ono wants so badly to have people to reminisce about the old days that he considers stopping complete strangers to greet them. Ono lives in the past and wants old friends to live in the past with him. “I’ll stop people in the street and say ‘I remember you from the old days. You used to be a regular around our district. Well, you may think it’s all gone, but you’re wrong. Mrs. Kawakami’s still there, the same as ever, and things are slowly building back up’” (Pg. 76). Ono refers to Mrs. Kawakami as “the same as ever,” she has surely changed with time but Ono chooses to see her the same way now as he did then. Ono does not see the harm in this, he does not see that because of his nostalgic thoughts he is unable to move on with his future.

In my opinion I truly do feel that it is important to remember your past and to learn from it. It may sound cheesy but everything that happens, happens for a reason and past events shape the person that you become. Since Ono remembers only the pleasant things about his past he is not able to fully evolve into the complex character he could be.