, ENG3705 Assignment 3
Semester 2 2025
DUE September 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
Can Things Go Back? Nostalgia, Irreversibility, and the Fracture
of Babel
Introduction
In Chapter 32 of R. F. Kuang’s Babel, Letty Price voices a desperate plea: ―I just
want things to go back to the way they were. We had a future together, all of us‖
(2022, p. 519). This moment, poised on the brink of violence and irrevocable loss,
crystallizes one of the central questions of the novel: is it ever possible to return to
an imagined past of harmony once the fractures of inequality and betrayal have
been exposed? This essay argues that Letty’s desire to restore a lost past is
ultimately impossible—not only because the violent structures of empire prevent
such restoration, but also because the bonds between the characters have already
been irrevocably transformed by betrayal, political awakening, and the recognition
of systemic injustice. Drawing primarily on Chapter 32 (pp. 516–526), while
situating it in the broader arc of the novel, I will argue that nostalgia in Babel
functions less as a viable path to reconciliation than as a denial of the irreversible
changes wrought by empire, revolution, and personal choice.
Letty’s Nostalgia and the Desire for Stability
Letty’s plea in Chapter 32 emerges from fear and disorientation. Surrounded by
Robin, Ramy, and Victoire—friends turned revolutionaries—she struggles to
reconcile their radical commitments with the safety and comfort of their shared past
as Oxford students. ―We had a future together‖ (Kuang, 2022, p. 519) encapsulates
her belief that solidarity and belonging were once possible within the academic and
imperial system. To her, the future was imagined as a linear continuation of
scholarly life, intellectual exchange, and friendship untroubled by politics.
Semester 2 2025
DUE September 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
Can Things Go Back? Nostalgia, Irreversibility, and the Fracture
of Babel
Introduction
In Chapter 32 of R. F. Kuang’s Babel, Letty Price voices a desperate plea: ―I just
want things to go back to the way they were. We had a future together, all of us‖
(2022, p. 519). This moment, poised on the brink of violence and irrevocable loss,
crystallizes one of the central questions of the novel: is it ever possible to return to
an imagined past of harmony once the fractures of inequality and betrayal have
been exposed? This essay argues that Letty’s desire to restore a lost past is
ultimately impossible—not only because the violent structures of empire prevent
such restoration, but also because the bonds between the characters have already
been irrevocably transformed by betrayal, political awakening, and the recognition
of systemic injustice. Drawing primarily on Chapter 32 (pp. 516–526), while
situating it in the broader arc of the novel, I will argue that nostalgia in Babel
functions less as a viable path to reconciliation than as a denial of the irreversible
changes wrought by empire, revolution, and personal choice.
Letty’s Nostalgia and the Desire for Stability
Letty’s plea in Chapter 32 emerges from fear and disorientation. Surrounded by
Robin, Ramy, and Victoire—friends turned revolutionaries—she struggles to
reconcile their radical commitments with the safety and comfort of their shared past
as Oxford students. ―We had a future together‖ (Kuang, 2022, p. 519) encapsulates
her belief that solidarity and belonging were once possible within the academic and
imperial system. To her, the future was imagined as a linear continuation of
scholarly life, intellectual exchange, and friendship untroubled by politics.
