In a previous post, I went over how the nations have
considerable gaps in their memories for a variety of reasons. [link here]. That
said, I also find it important to reiterate that the nations are not always
able to repress or forget traumatic memories, and often carry these
experiences with them – it becomes part of who they are, their personality.

Yes, their memories are full of holes, but these experiences
can just as easily be retained. It’s not that they repress everything, but
rather that they don’t remember everything.

1) Sometimes there are triggers – such as an object
or person – that allow the nations to remember an experience more vividly.
Prior to that, they simply have a general emotive idea of the experience, good
or bad.

2) Sometimes the nations carry the memories with
them, either consciously – it actively affects how they relate and interact
with others – or unconsciously – it latently affects how they relate and
interact with others outside of their own awareness.

3) Sometimes, no matter how hard a nation tries to
repress uncomfortable, unpleasant, or anxiety-ridden memories, they’re unfortunately
unable to.

4) Sometimes the nations retain the memories, but
purposefully refuse to either mention or acknowledge them.

Given their dark, chaotic, and bloody pasts, it would make
sense for the nations to protect their sanity by not remembering everything.
Nonetheless, what this post will argue and focus on is how these experiences
influence the nations both at an unconscious and conscious level.

Without further ado, let’s tie this back to the strips.

America:

America is a case of a nation who desires to forget his
past, but is unsuccessful in doing so. In particular, the experience he wants
to forget is his Revolution.

Likewise, while America retained vivid emotive and affective
memories from the Revolution, it’s only when he begins cleaning out old belongings
in his storage closet that he recalls the finer details of the unpleasant experience.

Simply put, even though America’s experience of the Revolution
has deeply affected him emotionally in how he perceives his sense of self, the
fact that the belongings flesh out these memories is essential in demonstrating
the limitations of his memory.

It’s just like what Finland’s claimed before; aside from physical strength and a strengthened immune
system, the nations aren’t all that much different from humans.

Italy: 

During a meeting, Italy’s boss takes an interest in Italy’s
immortality, and later remarks that it can be disadvantageous.

“You sure have been
through a lot, huh?”

Italy even agrees that his life has been tough. 

Even more
interesting is that Italy claims that he gets tired of seeing the same people
all the time, only to reverse this statement and say that seeing the same
people can be refreshing in a way.

How I see this is that while Italy may see the same people,
he experiences them differently each time. Perhaps this is why
Italy refers to this as refreshing – could it be that while he sees the same
people, they evoke different memories and emotional reactions in him?

What’s also important here is the initial reluctance in
Italy to disclose more “private” accounts of his life. Notice how uncomfortable
he looks. Not every memory is good, so of course he’s not going to be keen on
recalling them.

The scene ends with Italy offering to disclose these secrets
should his boss treat him to lunch. This could very easily be interpreted as
him deflecting the subject.

France: 

Having lost huge aspects of his culture following his own Revolution
–given that many old furniture pieces and decorations were either discarded, sold or burned – France still retains strong feelings of grief over this
in the present.

Put another way, France’s past still lives with him in how
he presently experiences himself.

Lithuania: 

Lithuania too is an example of a nation who’s still
traumatized by their past. It impacts every aspect of his daily interactions.

As he and the other two Baltics recall their arduous paths
to independence, Lithuania further recalls a memory of Russia squeezing his
shoulders.

Notice how Lithuania repeats this behavior, albeit unknowingly,
as he squeezes Estonia’s and Latvia’s shoulders upon remembering this troubling
experience.

Just to prove how consistent this memory rule has been, I’d
like to point out that Lithuania has suffered from triggered-induced flashbacks
as early as the first original chapters of the web comic.

When privy to the fact that Russia intended to invade Poland
in WW2, Lithuania repeatedly recalls traumatic experiences where his own
country was taken over and conquered.

Russia:

Lastly, Russia is a quintessential example of a nation who’s
affected by their past. What’s complicated about him is that he seems to
remember a lot about his past, despite their being holes in it, but fails to attribute
this to how he presently experiences himself.

In other words, while retaining many traumatic memories,
Russia doesn’t connect them to how distorted and unhealthy his conception of an ideal relationship is [either platonic or
romantic.]

For instance, take the Bloody Sunday strip. There, Russia
sheds tears over the revolt, considering how hard he had previously worked to
improve his nation.

The strip ends by largely hinting at him being tasked with
supressing the revolt through the use of violence.

“We don’t want children who can’t play nice, right?”

Now, let’s skip forward a bit to WW2.

As he and England discuss America’s boldness, you can
immediately start to pick up on how Russia’s past inadvertently affects how he perceives
the world and the people in it. Yes, he might have repressed the nuanced
details of his past, but he’s internalized a considerable amount of it without
his realizing.

He appears to take what happened during the Bloody Sunday revolt,
and applies the same rhetoric to America. Not only is his view of relationships
distorted, but so are his solutions to problems.

I specifically want you to pay attention to the child
imagery that emerges again with regards to how Russia equates rebellion with
immaturity.

“Aren’t the provocative [rebellious] ones more fun to snap
in half?”

Translation: Dissent is childish, and therefore it must be crushed [snapped].

In sum, while the nations do have considerable gaps in their
memories, they are still very much influenced by their past.