, ENG3705 Assignment 3 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) 2025 – DUE
September 2025;100% trusted ,comprehensive and complete
reliable solution with clear explanation
ENG3705 Assignment 03 (2025)
2 ESSAY PROVIDED
Essay: Can Things Ever Go Back to the Way They Were?
In Chapter 32 of R.F. Kuang’s Babel (2022: 516–526), the fractured,
fiery, and fatal confrontation among Robin, Victoire, Griffin, Letty, and
the spectral presence of Ramy’s ghost crystallises the irreparable
tensions that have accumulated throughout the novel. At the centre of
this turbulent, tragic moment lies Letty Price’s plaintive, almost
desperate plea: “I just want things to go back to the way they were. We
had a future together, all of us” (2022: 519). On the surface, her
nostalgic, yearning words convey a longing for the harmonious, warm,
and seemingly innocent friendships the characters once shared at Babel,
before betrayals, bloodshed, and ideological fissures tore them apart. Yet
when read carefully against the backdrop of Chapter 32, it becomes
painfully apparent that “going back” is impossible. The brutal realities of
empire, the irrevocable death of Ramy, and the violent decisions made
by each character foreclose any return to a previous equilibrium. In this
essay, I will argue that Letty’s plea is a naïve, misguided, and
emotionally self-serving illusion. Drawing on the characters’ raw
positions in Chapter 32, reinforced by Ramy’s ghostly commentary, I
will demonstrate why the desire to return to the past is both ethically
untenable and practically impossible.
The seductive but shallow comfort of nostalgia
September 2025;100% trusted ,comprehensive and complete
reliable solution with clear explanation
ENG3705 Assignment 03 (2025)
2 ESSAY PROVIDED
Essay: Can Things Ever Go Back to the Way They Were?
In Chapter 32 of R.F. Kuang’s Babel (2022: 516–526), the fractured,
fiery, and fatal confrontation among Robin, Victoire, Griffin, Letty, and
the spectral presence of Ramy’s ghost crystallises the irreparable
tensions that have accumulated throughout the novel. At the centre of
this turbulent, tragic moment lies Letty Price’s plaintive, almost
desperate plea: “I just want things to go back to the way they were. We
had a future together, all of us” (2022: 519). On the surface, her
nostalgic, yearning words convey a longing for the harmonious, warm,
and seemingly innocent friendships the characters once shared at Babel,
before betrayals, bloodshed, and ideological fissures tore them apart. Yet
when read carefully against the backdrop of Chapter 32, it becomes
painfully apparent that “going back” is impossible. The brutal realities of
empire, the irrevocable death of Ramy, and the violent decisions made
by each character foreclose any return to a previous equilibrium. In this
essay, I will argue that Letty’s plea is a naïve, misguided, and
emotionally self-serving illusion. Drawing on the characters’ raw
positions in Chapter 32, reinforced by Ramy’s ghostly commentary, I
will demonstrate why the desire to return to the past is both ethically
untenable and practically impossible.
The seductive but shallow comfort of nostalgia
