No matter where someone decides to look, there is always some type of logging and wish for their childhood or older, happier times. Regardless of how many times Nintendo re-release their old consoles or Netflix releases a special showcasing an older comedian, no one seems to get sick of nostalgia. This nostalgia craze has always been present. Society shapes itself around keeping the original ways in tact and trying to shut out the new ways. This is seen in the 1800’s when people of a town try to teach “old ways,” in the 1920’s when a love is shown to be lost because of trying to reclaim the past, and today where everyone wants to have a piece of their childhood return to them. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is a great showcase …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the past and trying to bring it back many times throughout the book. The sense of nostalgia is very present and seeps into the characters’ motivations. The story follows Nick Carraway as he tells how Jay Gatsby tries to recapture the love of his life he lost five years prior. The entire time Jay keeps talking about how he has to “...fix everything just the way it was before, (Fitzgerald)” as he said in the book. Daisy even falls under the influence of Jay’s nostalgic views. She sees all the clothes and the house he built with her in mind. Everything he has worked and done for the past five years was for her. Jay wants to bring that back. He wants the “good old days” in his hands again. Ultimately that sense of nostalgia is what brings him to his death. He tried too hard to take her away from Tom that she freaked out and ended up killing Myrtle. This led to Tom accusing Jay and Myrtle’s husband George to kill Jay a few days later. Nostalgia is what the whole book is based on. It shows the depressing effects of what it can do to …show more content…
The story is just about two couples drinking and talking about their past love and life experiences. The entire short story is about reminiscing about the old days. In a different light, Carver shows the inner demons that come out while facing nostalgia. As a character named Terri says “He beat me up one night. He dragged me around the living room by my ankles. He kept saying, 'I love you, I love you, you bitch.' He went on dragging me around the living room. My head kept knocking on things.(Carver 170)" Carver brilliantly explores how thinking of only the old times can bring back bad memories. It’s not always the “fun childhood memories” like people seem to