Renato Resaldo's quote at the beginning of the essay caught me off gaurd, but only because I had never thought of nostalgia as something that both established and destroyed memories. When one thinks of nostalgia in general, it is often times associated with good emotions; happiness, excitement, and the like. People never really think that when they are nostalgic about someone or something, they may be repressing any of their less sterling qualities in order to remember their greater qualities. In order to establish one's innocence, reality will often times have to be destroyed. This reminds me very strongly of Catherine and Heathcliff. Through out the book, it seemed like they were unable to see the worst qualities of each other; by only remembering the best of each other, there was a justification, almost, of everything that they did out of "love" for the other.
As Nancy Armstrong's essay points out, it is extremely easy to believe that Wuthering Heights is nothing more than a story that takes place in a setting detached from the rest of society. It has no overwhelming political concerns (outside of the politics between the Linton's and the Earnshaw's), and there is no mention of the overall culture of England in that time period. The reader, instead, is treated to a story that acts a gated community. When a character leaves, there is no mention of their activities until they come back to Wuthering Heights. There are no true intrusions into the world that these characters inhabit; even Lockwood, a blatant outsider, is sucked into the internal operations of Wuthering Heights.
I don't think that Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights with the intention of providing a deep, intellectual commentary on British culture during the Victorian era, but Wuthering Heights, nevertheless, does have cultural relevance. Nancy Armstrong explains that through the increased interest in folklore, the further development of photography, and regionalism, Wuthering Heights captivated audiences far beyond the time and setting in which it took place.
Catherine and Heathcliff definitely suffer the effects of nostalgia, holding on to their childhood friendship as though it is the most important relationship in their lives. Even as the years go on, and they continue to wrong each other, they don't seem to remember those offenses. Also, they forget the offenses that they themselves commit. Catherine never sees anything wrong with how she acts, or how she treats Linton and Heathcliff, and doesn't seem to understand when either of them take issue with some of the things that she does. I think that Catherine uses nostalgia to not only remove the rough edges, but to erase them completely. When it comes to anyone besides Catherine, Heathcliff removes all the good edges, which helps him hold grudges and carry out long term revenge plots. I think if he treated and remembered his time with Catherine in the same way, then he would have fewer grudges to hold onto, since Linton wouldn't have wronged him by "stealing" Catherine.
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