Summary Of Dr. Manhattan In A Constant State Of Nostalgia

The argument that I am proposing is that Dr. Manhattan is in a constant state of nostalgia. As he experiences all of time at once, his past is becoming larger. As his past becomes larger, he values all those previous moments more so than his future. Dr. Manhattan values his past over his future so much so that he forces his responses in the present to be a product of his past and not his future. Perhaps a clearer way to say this is to suggest that Dr. Manhattan wants to be himself, and not care about knowing the future. It is also worth pointing out that this plays into one of the themes of the book, which is nostalgia. In making this argument, I am going to explain how Dr. Manhattan is constantly forced to relive his past and why that shapes
Manhattan’s inability to change the future is a direct result of him being the ultimate product of his past experiences. As explained previously, Dr. Manhattan is truer to himself than any other person because he is constantly reliving his life rather than remembering it. However, he is constantly reliving his future to, so why does that not shape how he reacts as much as his past? I argue that the answer to that question is because he is constantly experiencing nostalgia. It isn’t difficult to believe that Dr. Manhattan prefers the past rather than the future. He’s essentially cursed to know what’s going to happen in his life, and he has so much control over everything that he is effectively bored. Compare that to back when he was a normal human, then it should not be difficult to believe that he appreciates his past more than his present and future. With this in mind, he is much more emotionally invested with his past rather than his future. The result being that the emotions he expresses and his reactions are more so based on what his would-be emotions and reactions are from his past self. This doesn’t mean he responds like what is appropriately normal, but there are instances where he expresses emotions that make me believe like he has a fondness for his past. When Dr. Manhattan is getting interviewed in chapter three and is then told about the people from his past having cancer, he expresses clear facial expression of concern for Janey and also starts to think to himself that he was the cause of these diagnoses. He then reacts as any normal person would do when he is bombarded with questions from the press after immediately finding out tragic news, he pleads with them to leave him alone and isolates himself from everyone. Keep in mind that while this is happening to Dr. Manhattan, he is also experiencing his previous life with Janey at the same time. These aren’t the actions of someone who knows what’s going to happen, but much more closely resembles