Nostalgia: The Agent of Id in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine and Dust

Danial Ahmad; Dr. Ahmad Naeem; Dr. Khan Sardaraz

Danial Ahmad MPhil Scholar, Department of English Language and Literature Gomal University, D.I.Khan
Dr. Ahmad Naeem Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature Gomal University, D.I. Khan
Dr. Khan Sardaraz Registrar, University of Science and Technology, Bannu

Abstract

Nostalgia and the Id fuse together to bring about substantial changes in the mental realm of the main character in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine and Dust. The protagonist of this novel is Mariam who is quite a sensitive person who utilizes nostalgia as an escape from reality in order to revisit the sweet memories of the past. Freudian concept of psychoanalytic Id and Davis’s theory of nostalgia have been employed to explore the text and find their combine influence on the psychology of the protagonist and to which extent do they impose certain changes in Mariam’s personality. Freudian Id serves as a catalyst to use nostalgia as its tool to satisfy its urges and thus the protagonist adheres to nostalgia in order to gratify the demands of her Id. Here, the demands of Id chiefly correspond to the memories of her past. The protagonist of this novel primarily enjoys the nostalgic recollection of the past but soon she starts to suffer from it as nostalgia comes up with the amalgamation of bitter and sweet memories of the past and thus, the former influences her personality and resultantly her personality gets overshadowed with gloomy and disappointing realizations.

Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Nostalgia, Memories, Id, Fusion