Traumatic Experiences and their Representation in Narratives: A Study

Abstract

With the rise of psychiatric literature and medical humanities, trauma studies have gained significant focus in recent years. The studies that were done by Kidd (2005), Perring (2013), Olive (2014), Seran (2015), Tembo (2017), Hussain et al. (2018), Finck (2006), Durrant (2012), Long (2012), De Mey (2012), Curtis (2015), Karpasitis (2010), Ward (2008) and Dauksaite (2013), particularly, deal with diverse traumatic experiences. At the same time, they also throw light on the issues of the representation of trauma in narratives. They have examined narrative strategies, like the use of transgenerational empathy, intermediality of text and image, syntax disruption, ellipses, text/image layout, repetitions, symbols, photograph insertion, and assimilation, intertexts, framing of panels, inter-textuality, repetition, fragmentation, and flashback, that can be employed to deal with the challenges for the representation of traumatic experiences in narratives. This paper argues that the narrative features and techniques embedded in the narratives can be utilized for the representation and understanding of diverse traumatic experiences. The narrative components like plot (event), character and theme can be analyzed to discuss the psychological trauma of different characters. Researches can also rely on narrative techniques like flashbacks, flashforward, frame story, events in parallel, narrative shift, multi-perspectivity, repetitive designation, epiphany, amplification, imagery, tone, use of repetitive sentence structure, hamartia, peripetia, and comparison to examine how these techniques help represent the psychological trauma of the characters in the narratives.