LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 21:6 June 2021
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2021
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

TRAUMA RETOLD BY THE CHARACTERS OF MARGARET ATWOOD

Veni Mariadas, M.Phil.

Abstract

Literature is always linked to psychology. Words are derived from the psyche of the author. This is an attempt of psychological reading of some of the works of the most popular Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The paper has its foundation from Trauma theory which is now one of the most discussed theories in literature. The paper traverses through different aspects of Trauma theory. The trauma theory comes under the roof of psychology. It starts with mentioning a disorder of the psyche named Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The paper discusses on how trauma theory works on art and literature. This reading can be done in most works that depict traumatic events of history, like the holocaust, world war, colonization etc. The main focus of the paper is to bring out the trauma of characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel. Here the characters are victims of trauma due to variety of reasons.

Keywords: Atwood, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychology, psychoanalysis, trauma theory.

Introduction

Literature is filled with theories even from the very classical age. The theories have evolved and today it is highly complex. Literature cannot stand alone without theories and literature is now interdependent to many other fields of study. Literature has now got intermingled with humanities, science, arts and psychology. There was an exploding mass of literature during the nineteenth and twentieth century with which many contemporary theories also came into light.

The most important incident that came into literature in the nineteenth century was the introduction of psychology into literature. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology deduced new psychological theories which were later used in literature. One of Freud’s greatest discoveries to the field of psychology was psychoanalysis. According to Freud, the human mind is divided into three layers: the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious. Freud suggested that all the thoughts, dreams and actions of a human being are governed by the unconscious level of the mind. But we are consciously unaware of our unconscious. “The mental processes of adults and children, whether in illness or health, have many meanings, and their infinite variations may produce a sense of estrangement” (The Essentials of Psycho Analysis 1).

Freud’s psychoanalysis was later used in literature. In literature psychoanalysis argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. We are able to psychoanalyze a particular character within a literary work, but it is usually presumed that all such characters are reflections of the author's psyche.

This is only the beginning part of the dissertation. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE DISSERTATION IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Veni Mariadas, M.Phil.
Lecturer in English
SCMS School of Technology and Management
Muttom, Aluva, Kerala
venimariadas@scmsgroup.org
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.