Ever since the 1980s, not only clinical trauma theory has witnessed a dynamic development in different fields, particularly in the literary world, but also influenced literary and cultural theory by putting the emphasis on traumatic events, their unexpected and long-lasting impacts resulting in the transformation of traumatized characters, and ways each character deals with these events. There is also a mutual relationship between trauma fiction and contemporary studies of trauma in medical and scientific discourse as these studies continuously seep into literary discourse, especially after the recognition of PTSD in 1980, resulting in the emergence of literary trauma theory, which is generally defined as an interdisciplinary theoretical body …show more content…
As mentioned before, this impossibility is because of trauma’s resistance to representation and language. So how is it possible to define the relationship between trauma and narrative when there is the possibility of failure in narrating trauma? Whitehead also argues that the focus of such narratives has changed from “what is remembered of the past” to “how and why it is remembered” depending on the period’s dominant politics, ethics, and aesthetics (3). Accordingly, I will investigate whether the selected novels belong to those narratives focusing on “what is remembered of the past” or those focusing on “how and why it is remembered.” Similarly, I will examine whether the selected novels succeed or fail in narrating traumatic experiences and how this is represented through time scheme in …show more content…
For example, Craps argue that literary trauma theory and trauma fiction are Eurocentric and they generally focus on the Holocaust and 9/11 “as the paradigm[s] of individual and communal trauma” at the cost of marginalizing or ignoring other atrocities committed by human beings (46). To compensate for this narrow viewpoint, a new direction is proposed in applying this theory to contexts belonging to the non-western world (Buelens, Durrant and Eaglestone 12). Accordingly, Craps attacks literary trauma studies and argues that “if trauma theory is to redeem its promise of cross-cultural ethical engagement, the sufferings of those belonging to non-Western or minority cultures must be given due recognition”
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition, similar to an anxiety disorder, that is triggered by trauma and other extremely stressful circumstances. Throughout the book, Junger talks about PTSD in a wide range:from PTSD rates in natural disaster victims to PTSD rates in veterans. The latter is explained on a deeper perspective. While Junger gave many examples of why PTSD rates in America were so high, the most captivating was:
In conclusion, it is through these contradictions between history and memory that we learn not to completely rely on either form of representation, due to the vexing nature of the relationship and the deliberate selection and emphasis. It is then an understanding that through a combination of history and memory we can begin to comprehend representation. ‘The Fiftieth Gate’ demonstrates Baker’s conclusive realisation that both history and memory have reliability and usefulness. ‘Schindler’s List’ reveals how the context of a medium impacts on the selection and emphasis of details. ‘The Send-Off’ then explains how the contradiction between memory and history can show differing perspectives and motives.
“We Kill Ourselves Because We Are Haunted” is a non-fiction essay by Jennifer Percy; in which Percy meet veterans or soldiers and their family who are suffering from PTSD, due to some accident that happened to the veterans or soldiers. In the article Percy, discuss various incidence of different people who are trapped in the circle of PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a problem related to mental health. In this a person come across flashbacks, nightmares, uncontrollable thought that are not easily recoverable. PTSD may happen when a person comes across a terrifying situation that happened to themselves or someone close to them.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five; providing details that indicate both Vonnegut and his protagonist Billy Pilgrim suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Memorialization of the Holocaust has taken many forms in the sixty years that have followed it. The memory of this event seems more present now than directly after the war, but an increasing awareness of the limits of representing this memory has also cast a shadow (Sicher 355). Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale recontextualizes this history by addressing such limits of representation, functioning as a unique form of Holocaust memorialization, which elicits what I term "performative memorialization. " Performative memorialization is a layered memorial activity that performs in every Holocaust genre to create a temporally fluid, Bakhtinian dialogic between the author and the subject (memory) and the event and the audience (history)-combating tendencies toward collective amnesia or foreclosure.”
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, was recognized as a disorder with specific symptoms and was added to the Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980. However, prior to this acknowledgement, father of psychology, Sigmund Freud, had already developed a theory on it. Freud’s Seduction theory states: “both forgotten childhood trauma and a variety of adult stresses could cause neurosis”, such as we have seen in Euripides’s Medea; in which Medea acted irrationally after having gone through traumatic events. Whether it was Freud in the 1890s or Euripides in 430 BC the idea that PTSD is present in one’s daily live has always been a suggestion.
When one faces a traumatic experience, his or true nature often reveals itself. Trauma forces its sufferers to cope. How one copes is directly linked to his or her personality. Some will push any painful feelings away, while others will hold onto pleasant memories. Both of these coping mechanisms can be observed in Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and “A Rose for Emily,” the two protagonists’ prominent characteristics distinctly affect the way they cope with trauma and influence the short stories’ outcomes.To begin, Granny Weatherall is a prideful control freak. In contrast, Miss Emily is delusional and stubborn.
Trauma: an emotional shock causing lasting and substantial damage to a person’s psychological development. Linda Krumholz in the African American Review claims the book Beloved by Toni Morrison aids the nation in the recovery from our traumatic history that is blemished with unfortunate occurrences like slavery and intolerance. While this grand effect may be true, one thing that is absolute is the lesson this book preaches. Morrison’s basic message she wanted the reader to recognize is that life happens, people get hurt, but to let the negative experiences overshadow the possibility of future good ones is not a good way to live. Morrison warns the reader that sooner or later you will have to choose between letting go of the past or it will forcibly overwhelm you. In order to cement to the reader the importance of accepting one’s personal history, Morrison uses the tale of former slave Sethe to show the danger of not only holding on to the past, but to also deny the existence and weight of the psychological trauma it poses to a person’s psyche. She does this by using characters and their actions to symbolize the past and acceptance of its existence and content.
Ida Fink’s work, “The Table”, is an example of how old or disturbing memories may not contain the factual details required for legal documentation. The purpose of her writing is to show us that people remember traumatic events not through images, sounds, and details, but through feelings and emotions. To break that down into two parts, Fink uses vague characters to speak aloud about their experiences to prove their inconsistencies, while using their actions and manners to show their emotions as they dig through their memories in search of answers in order to show that though their spoken stories may differ, they each feel the same pain and fear.
Trauma is a disturbing experience that causes deep stress and possible anxiety. Traumatic incidents are thought to involve victimization. Examples of traumatic events range from witness, physical attack, emotional or sexual child abuse, to the sudden death or disabling illness of a loved one. Traumatic events in particular, possibly leads to a multitude of symptoms, including depression, guilt and obsessive thought about the victimization experience. Trauma and the body can be perceived in a literary context in Junot Diaz’s, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Jean Rhys’s, Wide Sargasso Sea and Danticat’s, The Farming of Bones.
Freud’s approach trauma is based in the treatment of hysteria. According to Ringel and Brandell, Freud and Breuer, considered an “external event” as responsible of determining hysterical symptoms. The common component between hysteria and trauma is the outcome of fright. Freud and Breuer emphasis the importance of cathartic experience as a way of decreasing or vanishing the effect. The “cathartic method” that was developed by Breuer, assisted to release of inhibited emotions. Freud believed that the libido, necessary to be relished for the symptoms to be improved (p. 43).
The article, “A New Focus on the ‘Post; in Post-Traumatic Stress” by David Dobbs, talks about trauma as a whole and how some react to it. Dobbs writes, “Both culturally and medically, we have long seen it as arising from a single, identifiable disruption. You witness a shattering event, or fall victim to it-and as the poet Walter de la Mare put it, ‘the human brain works slowly: first the blow, hours afterward the bruise.” Holden experienced trauma ex...
Trauma and recovery both have cycles in which an individual must pass through to heal. For those having lived through the Holocaust, these stages were well defined and could be addressed. However, when addressed, they only address the individual, not the group nor those affected in a secondary way. This creates a dichotomy between those experiencing an internal conflict, survivor or otherwise, and those who had experienced the physical external conflict of the Holocaust. Thus, I will argue that internal conflict is more damaging to the individual because it is polarizing both in a mental way but also with the relationships formed with others while external conflict actually serves as a bonding agent for a group by creating a common, albeit, negative experience. I am going to prove my thesis through the use of The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. Specifically, I will examine the visual polarization between Art and his father, Vladek, in graphic elements and how it connects to Arts internal conflict. Following this, I will continue analyzing the graphic element of Maus focusing on the external conflict and how the use of visual symbolism and linkage creates a sense of unity and identity. Moving on to the literary aspect of the novel, I will explore Anja’s internal conflict with life and how it not only polarized her own mind but separated her from her son physically and mentally. Anticipating the counterargument of Mala’s and Vladek’s strained relationship I will briefly discuss the subtext of their interactions and use that to transition into the unity Vladek expresses with others experiencing the war and survivors after the war to fully expand the idea of polarizatio...
In the production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, trauma played a huge role in the lives of some of the characters. Characters such as Hamlet, Ophelia and even Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude displayed effects of trauma within this production. Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Brooke Sanders came and explained how people are affected by traumatic events in their life time whether it has to do with death, family issues, or just dealing with issues in life, period.
Are we victims to our memory? Are we victims to our experiences? Are we victims to our own biology? Or all of the above? Through the novel “Mrs. Dalloway” Virginia Wolff provides a poignant view of what it means to be human, and how our experiences and memories shape who we become, in both different but universal ways. The truth revealed in her novel is the simple but complex idea that life is not plotted, instead it exists in spontaneity and different perspectives. This reveals the fact that events, or experiences in life do not simply start and end. They stay with us, effecting our attitude, behaviors, and views for the rest of our lives. Thus the notion that “the war is over” is ignorant, and most importantly false, because as long as there