INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA AND REDEMPTION THROUGH REMEMBRANCE

This paper explores the intergenerational trauma that affects the characters in the writings of Khaled Hosseini and Bapsi Sidhwa. It attempts a comparative study of The Kite Runner and The Pakistani Bride. Both the works are situated with a background of post-partition Pakistan and war-torn Afghanistan. The effect of war has been traumatic and reverberates across generations giving them an identity of silence, shame, guilt and loneliness. The socio-historic framework poses a strong background of war-torn people searching peace as refugees.

        Kite Runner exposes the guilt of Amir who feels ashamed later for not having saved his friend. This seed of trauma is sown while young and is carried to becoming an intergenerational trauma. The upper-class dominance and denial of basic rights become evident in the novel. The political upheaval from monarchy to Taliban rule poses threat to personal identity beyond gender. This intersects with Amir’s failure and leaves him with a fractured identity. He seeks forgiveness and wants redemption from his greatest sin. It is the remembrance that haunts him throughout and forces him to inherit trauma and pain. Silence, secrecy and suppression remain the backbone of the sufferers of these nations. However, there is always a love for familial relationships.

        Sidhwa’s The Pakistani Bride traces the journey of Zaitoon a young orphan, loved and raised by Qasim a man who has memories deep about partition and violence. His unhealed trauma is forced on Zaitoon. She inherits trauma from Qasim as she is forced into a brutal marriage. Trauma is not only political but also personal. Her struggle to get back to her father’s house reveals the collective silencing of the women. Their psychological condition is poor and they inherit nothing but a strong legacy of shame, guilt, suppression and fear.

        Both the novels show glimpses of intergenerational trauma and people seeking redemption because of their haunting remembrances of their past. Memory is an agent that takes them through the journey of pain and suffering to redemption and search for peace. Both the writings are witness to internalized trauma, patriarchal systems and national violence.