Memory, trauma and displacement
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Date
2024
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Publisher
UMT, Lahore
Abstract
This research paper examines the psychological trauma of the characters caused by war and displacement in Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin. It traces the individual as well as the collective trauma the characters face throughout the course of the novel and how these continued traumas lead the characters towards an existential crisis where they try to find meaning and purpose in the aimless existence they have been condemned to, by resisting in the face of atrocities and choosing their own path to struggle, but their efforts bear no fruit. The theoretical framework that has been applied in conducting this research is that of trauma theory. The approaches of the scholars Cathy Caruth, Pirrer Jenet, and Judith Herman were utilized in conducting this research. The works of these theorists is based upon the ideas of Sigmund Freud, that the traumatic events are the ‘stimuli’ that break through the protective shields of the individual’s mind, causing the victim to lose their sense of morality and identity, while shattering their human relationships. It explored fragmentation of identity and relationships and the desire to escape the baggage of generational trauma. This research has been conducted through qualitative research method and the data has been acquired through the close textual reading of the novel and the theoretical texts. The research unfolds that the traumas faced by the characters of Dalia, Amal, Yehya and Yousef are actually the traumas that has been embedded in the collective consciousness of all the Palestinians as they navigate through their aimless existence, hoping to one day return to their homeland.