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At the end of World War II, William Faulkner gave a speech after accepting a Nobel prize, his bold use of language portrays that a writer’s duty is to admonish the delusions that hinder our ability to perceive the world honestly. Two books that give an account of nostalgia, An American Childhood by Annie Dillard and The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway, portray a writer’s duty a people about the good and evils of nostalgia.
The significance of childhood rests in the adult recollection of familiarity and security that is felt when revisiting the things that were enjoyed during childhood. Dillard displays a nostalgia for the people around her through a tragic light, her friend’s father was an artist as a child, but became an architect because it is “not proper to become a painter.” The word “proper” feels so callous that the reader remembers the sting of disappointment and feels sorry for the architect. Exchanging the passions and dreams for a respectable adult life doesn’t seem like a fair trade-off, but for some, the best part of childhood is a family.
Conway suffered the loss of her family’s wealth, and unity, the lowest point in her childhood was when her father died and she lost faith in “benign provinces.” The wording she used gives the reader a sense of dread because it means that she lost her faith in God, this scarred her so much that it changed the way she saw life. She was firm in her choice to write about what was happy about her childhood while acknowledging that intense heartbreak and sadness are facts of life.
These authors learn from the past, they don’t fear the future or become overly attached to their childhoods. They appreciate the desire to step back into the role of the child, but instead, they direct these motivations into the hope that they will find something. Nostalgia has rooted itself in today’s culture. It seems that there is a new sequel to an old movie coming out every year, and rampant criticism is being thrown at the present simply because it isn’t the past. Though, is it really a sin to indulge in the familiarity and joy that is associated with childhood? It used to be. Homesickness was taken to a new meaning during the 30 Years War when Swiss soldiers became debilitated with feelings of longing for their mountainous homes, some had to withdraw from the army. A writer’s duty is to form a social cohesion that can connect generations together, and appreciation of the past can cause new ideas to form.
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