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Title "Remaking of the Self: A Study of Generational Trauma and Collective Memory in Post-Colonial Caribbean Fiction "

Author(s) Hoor Rahman

Abstract The research study explores the depiction of generational trauma and collective memory in the novels An Untamed State by Roxane Gay and Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat. The focus of the study is delimited to Haitian fiction that commonly portrays issues of gender abuse and violence. The study investigates how the traumatic events of kidnappings, and rape, in post-colonial Haitian setting, impact female characters over generations. The study utilizes Victoria Aarons and Alan L. Berger’s “Generational Trauma”, Maurice Halbwachs’ “Collective Memory”, and Susan J. Brison’s “Remaking of a Self” as a conceptual framework. This research study shows how these female characters, subjected to violence, experience the trauma of sexual and physical abuse and engage with it during different generations of a family. First-generation females experience traumatic events; second-generation (children of trauma survivors) experience trauma either directly or indirectly, but they work to discover who they are while shielding the third generation from the effects of trauma. Brison’s concept has been utilized to see how female characters demonstrate incredible courage and perseverance in the face of traumatic events and attain female agency. Mireille, and Sophie as mothers are pivotal in the novels because they hold the family together and fight for the third generation. The second generation shows resistance through the collective memory of a family to stop the transference of generational trauma to the next generation and transform their “Self” to claim their place in society. These female trauma survivors attain agency by redefining who they are as women. The collective memory of the past traumatic events, experienced by the female characters in a family, also provides this fortitude and preparedness for the second generations. Trauma and the collective memory of the family passed down through generations work together to restore the victim’s “Self”. This newfound agency and sense of self assist women in normalizing their family after generational trauma.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2024-08-12

Subject Literature

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