Essay On Nostalgia

As we grow older we look back on our past because too often we do not appreciate the present to the maximum benefit while we are living. Maria Luisa B. Aguilar-Carino writes The Secret Language to express her nostalgia for her childhood. Nostalgia by definition means “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past” (OED). In the 17th-19th century the term nostalgia was associated with “medical disease” or “bad omen” (Sedikides 2008, pg.304). Then by mid 20th century, Tim Wildschut first claims that the term nostalgia means yearning for the past in a “positive toned emotion” (pg.305). Wildschut further explains that nostalgia is a “self-relevant and social emotion,” to emphasize that nostalgic feelings are related to oneself

Christina must change herself according to the foreign customs by learning to speak the colonial language, changing her appearance and embracing the Christian religion. Although she has changed herself from a native woman into a civilized woman, she recalls her appearance as a child: For you, I have covered my breasts and hidden, Among the folds of my surrendered inheritance,

The beads I have worn since girlhood. In the pre-colonial days, Christina could walk topless around her district and wear the beads necklace, which is for charm and luck. However, the colonizers are against superstitions and force Christina to abandon her own culture. Christina misses the culture she has had to abandon.

Moreover, Wildschut researches into the reason that nostalgia is a “positive toned emotion” because these positive emotions are triggered by “negative mood and loneliness” (pg.305). This means that if we are happy now, we will not yearn for the past. So, when we are sad, we will yearn for the past, for the old feelings in order to make ourselves feel better now. As Christina is not content with the