Trauma’s Trace: War, Memory and Peace

Trauma’s Trace: War, Memory and Peace

I believe this theory is also closely related to us. Every person experiences emotions and reacts to events in different ways. Trauma Theory is, in my opinion, a highly valuable approach both on an individual and a societal level. It helps us understand the period, the people, the causes, the silences, and the unspoken truths. Whether it’s recent history or distant past, traumas leave permanent marks in the memory of individuals and societies alike. Seeing how these marks are reflected in literature makes this theory even more meaningful. Trauma theory does not just explore the essential world of individuals; it also examines the collective memory of societies. Wars, migrations, genocides, and other devastating events leave psychological scars alongside physical consequences. Literature can serve as a vessel and expression of these wounds. Often, traumas are not expressed directly but through fragmented narratives, gaps, and silences. Trauma theory listens precisely to these missing or repressed voices.

In truth, this theory concerns all of us. Everyone has gone through some form of trauma—sometimes without realising it, sometimes without being able to put it into words. And this is exactly where the healing power of literature comes into play. To write, to narrate, to understand—all of these are responses to trauma.

Trauma theory does not only ask “What happened?” It also allows us to ask questions like “How do we remember?”, “What do we suppress?”, and “Why do we speak now?”

I will begin the blog with a general introduction. Then, I would like to discuss the concepts of "trauma" and "traumatic events," explaining how trauma theory emerged. I will touch on its place in both individual and collective memory. After that, I will move on to how trauma is reflected in literature, exploring its relationship with literary works. Following this, I will focus on key concepts and the literary techniques used in trauma theory. Finally, I plan to conclude the blog with a personal reflection and overall commentary.

 Understanding Trauma Theory: Memory, Identity, and Literature

Trauma Theory is an interdisciplinary approach that explore the psychological and emotional effects of traumatic experiences on individuals and communities. It looks into how such events disturb ordinary cognitive and emotional processes, often resulting in long-lasting effects on memory, identity, and behaviour. In literary studies, trauma theory serves as a powerful lens to examine how literature represents trauma, giving voice to pain, loss, and the journey toward healing. Writers often use narrative to explore the unspeakable—what lies beneath language, buried in memory, and sometimes inaccessible to the conscious mind.

Origins of Trauma Theory

Trauma theory initially emerged from the studies of scholars who focused on the psychological wounds of Vietnam War veterans. These early explorations led to a broader understanding of trauma as a rupture in the mind’s protective shield, resulting in what is now recognized as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Traditional trauma interpretations, heavily influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis, framed trauma as something unpresentable, pathological, and silent. However, contemporary trauma scholars have expanded the field with more pluralistic and refined approaches. These newer perspectives move beyond essentialist views, considering how trauma functions across both personal and societal dimensions.

One significant expansion of the theory includes cultural trauma—a form of collective psychological damage that occurs when a group endures a devastating event. This type of trauma leaves permanent marks on group consciousness and influences the collective identity of communities, cultures, and even nations.

Defining Trauma and the Traumatic Event

Trauma is a sudden and overwhelming experience that deeply affects a person’s mind. It usually happens after a shocking or dangerous event, such as facing violence or the risk of death. This experience can shake the person’s beliefs and create a gap between who they were before the event and who they are after it. As a result, the person may feel afraid, confused, and emotionally hurt. A traumatic event often makes someone realize how fragile life is. It changes how they see the world and themselves. In literature, such events are often shown in a powerful way, highlighting the deep, often unspoken pain that trauma leaves behind.

The Origins of Trauma Theory

In the 19th century, psychology was not yet recognized as a serious science. Early mental health practitioners—often called “mad doctors” or “alienists”—struggled to gain credibility. To be heard, they had to anchor their ideas in biological or mechanical explanations, seeing mental illness as a sign of hereditary weakness or even degeneration—a fall back down the evolutionary ladder.

But a shift occurred with the arrival of dynamic psychology, a new perspective that gave more autonomy to the workings of the mind. In 1893, two Austrian physicians, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Breuer, challenged prevailing ideas in their essay “On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena.” They proposed that hysteria wasn’t rooted in physical degeneration, but in psychical trauma—emotional wounds rooted in memory and experience.

According to Freud and Breuer, traumatic memories—especially those involving intense fear, shame, or pain—do not fade away. Instead, they linger in the unconscious, causing psychological symptoms. As Freud famously wrote, “Hysterics suffer mainly from reminiscences.” Their cure? A method Freud’s patient Bertha Pappenheim (known by the pseudonym “Anna O.”) would later call “the talking cure”—uncovering and expressing the hidden memory to relieve the symptom. Freud’s 1896 lecture “The Aetiology of Hysteria” went even further, controversially arguing that repressed sexual experiences lay at the root of hysteria. This claim ended his collaboration with Breuer and marked Freud’s deeper dive into the study of trauma. Yet Freud didn’t stop there. After the horrors of World War I, he returned to the idea of trauma—this time, in light of the phenomenon called “shell shock.” Soldiers returning from the trenches displayed signs of severe psychological distress: memory loss, flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations. It wasn’t just fear; it was the haunting return of unprocessed horror. Freud introduced the concept of repetition compulsion—the idea that people unconsciously repeat traumatic experiences, attempting to master them. This became a cornerstone in how trauma was understood not only in individuals but also in cultures and societies.

In the late 20th century, Cathy Caruth intensified this idea in her seminal work Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History (1996). She argued that trauma exists in a paradox: the most direct experience of a violent event may actually be experienced as an inability to fully grasp it. Trauma, she suggested, often arrives with a delay, creating gaps between what is experienced and what is understood.

Another key figure, Geoffrey Hartman, emphasized that trauma drives language to the symbolic. For him, trauma was a negative force that calls forth poetic expression—language struggling to capture what resists being spoken.

As Hartman wrote in 1995: “There is something very contemporary about trauma studies, reflecting our sense that violence is coming ever nearer, like a storm—a storm that may have already moved into the core of our being.”

Key Concepts of Trauma Theory

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A mental health condition caused by experiencing or witnessing traumatic events. Common symptoms include flashbacks, emotional numbness, and heightened anxiety.
• Traumatic Memory: Traumatic memories are often fragmented or suppressed. These memories can affect how a person recalls or makes sense of past experiences.
• Survivor Narratives: Stories that portray the experiences of individuals who have lived through trauma. These texts often focus on themes such as recovery, endurance, and the journey toward healing.
• Cultural Trauma: Traumas that impact whole communities or societies. Such events leave lasting marks on cultural identity and collective memory.

Literary Techniques in Trauma Narratives

• Fragmentation: Writers often use broken, non-linear structures to reflect the disoriented and fractured nature of traumatic experience.
• Unreliable Narration: Traumatized narrators may offer unclear or distorted accounts of events, showing how trauma affects perception and memory.
• Symbolism and Metaphor: Authors use powerful images and metaphors to express the emotional and psychological weight of trauma.

Examples from Literature

• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818): Victor Frankenstein suffers emotional turmoil due to the consequences of his scientific obsession. The novel explores themes of guilt, isolation, and inner conflict.
• Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847): Jane faces emotional abuse and neglect in her childhood, shaping her strong sense of self and resilience throughout the novel.
• Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847): Heathcliff carries the emotional scars of a traumatic childhood and unfulfilled love. His pain leads to obsession and revenge, showing how trauma can shape identity.
• Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925): Septimus Warren Smith, a World War I veteran, suffers from what we now call PTSD. His story highlights the lasting impact of war on mental health and the experience of social alienation.
• Ian McEwan's Atonement (2001): Briony Tallis deals with guilt and regret after a false accusation changes lives forever. The novel explores trauma through memory, remorse, and the longing for redemption.

Today, in many parts of the world, war is not a distant memory but a daily reality—Ukraine, Palestine, the fragile borders between Pakistan and India, and the ever-burning wounds of terrorism in the Middle East. In these regions, people wake not to the sound of birds, but to the roar of jets, the cry of the injured, and the silence of those who did not survive the night.

What does a child in Gaza feel when the sky above her home glows red at midnight, not with fireworks, but with fire? How does a Ukrainian woman soldier carry the weight of both her rifle and the memory of her lost comrades? What remains in the soul of a Pakistani boy who sees border tensions not as a political issue, but as a daily uncertainty—will his father return from the market, or has the road turned into a battlefield again?

Years from now, these individuals may appear in stories, novels, testimonies. A Palestinian child, grown into adulthood, may write of the fear etched into every corner of his childhood, of dreams that ended with the sound of bombs, of laughter buried under rubble. A Ukrainian nurse, perhaps, will recall how she stitched bodies by candlelight, and stitched her heart closed, again and again, so it wouldn’t break in the middle of battle.

Trauma theory, then, becomes more than academic—it becomes a bridge. A way to reach across silence, across languages and cultures, and listen to what cannot be said directly. Literature, with its fragmented forms, unreliable voices, and poetic metaphors, gives voice to the unspeakable. It does not heal the wound—but it names it.