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Forgetting Remembering Trauma : Reclaiming the Lost Identities in Toni Morrison's “Song of Solomon”, S. J. Watson's “Before I Go to Sleep” and Bothina El-Eisa's “Aisha Descends to Underworld”
Other Title(s)
نسيان تذكر الصدمة : استعادة الهويات المفقودة في كلمات توني موريسون سليمان، S. J. واتسون و قبل أن تذهب إلى النوم و عائشة Bothina شركة العيسى لينزل إلى الجحيم
Author
Abd al-Al, Lamya Hasan Ibrahim
Source
Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University
Issue
Vol. 43, Issue --- (30 Sep. 2015), pp.526-555, 30 p.
Publisher
Ain Shams University Faculty of Arts
Publication Date
2015-09-30
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
30
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
This paper focuses on reclaiming lost identity – both collectively and individually – through remembering the traumatic events in three novels: Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977), S.
J.
Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep (2011), and Bothina El-Eisa’s Aisha Descends to Underworld (2012).
Trauma affects identity formation in which traumatic experience creates a fragmented identity since the traumatic event marks a departure from the coherent life story.
Trauma is associated with a forgotten event in which memories have been repressed even without the individuals active knowledge of repression.
Forgetting traumatic events refers to the victims inability and unwillingness to confront the trauma he/she experienced.
The act of remembering helps the fragmented self to negotiate and transform his/her past and in that way provide agency and meaning to individual’s sense of self.
Memories of the trauma haunt the traumatized individuals to be remembered and to speak within the person’s memory.
Remember is a vision rooted in the need to witness history in order to reclaim what must not be forgotten.
In the three novels, the protagonists find healing by remembering their traumatic past.
For the three protagonists, forgetting or denying the traumatic past lead to lose their identities and lose their social connections.
The loss which protagonists suffer either because of dementia, or death, or forgetting the history of family, causes the loss of their own identities.
To be able to reclaim their identities they must remember and confront their traumatic past.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Abd al-Al, Lamya Hasan Ibrahim. 2015. Forgetting Remembering Trauma : Reclaiming the Lost Identities in Toni Morrison's “Song of Solomon”, S. J. Watson's “Before I Go to Sleep” and Bothina El-Eisa's “Aisha Descends to Underworld”. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University،Vol. 43, no. ---, pp.526-555.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-849957
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Abd al-Al, Lamya Hasan Ibrahim. Forgetting Remembering Trauma : Reclaiming the Lost Identities in Toni Morrison's “Song of Solomon”, S. J. Watson's “Before I Go to Sleep” and Bothina El-Eisa's “Aisha Descends to Underworld”. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University Vol. 43 (Jul. / Sep. 2015), pp.526-555.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-849957
American Medical Association (AMA)
Abd al-Al, Lamya Hasan Ibrahim. Forgetting Remembering Trauma : Reclaiming the Lost Identities in Toni Morrison's “Song of Solomon”, S. J. Watson's “Before I Go to Sleep” and Bothina El-Eisa's “Aisha Descends to Underworld”. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University. 2015. Vol. 43, no. ---, pp.526-555.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-849957
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Record ID
BIM-849957