Traumatized Characters in Toni Morrison's Beloved and Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1701.17Keywords:
PTSD, postcolonialism, race, Toni Morrison, Rebecca WestAbstract
This paper offers a comparative analysis of psychological trauma as represented in Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) and Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier (1918), with a particular focus on symptoms consistent with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and war neurosis. Drawing on clinical definitions of PTSD and trauma theory, the essay argues that both novels portray characters whose psychological suffering reflects broader historical traumas—namely, the legacy of American slavery and the catastrophic effects of World War I. In Beloved, the trauma of enslavement manifests through recurring motifs of memory suppression, spectral hauntings, and maternal obsession, while in The Return of the Soldier, West explores the destabilization of class and gender roles in response to wartime psychological rupture. The study foregrounds how race, gender, and social class mediate individual responses to trauma in both narratives, revealing how personal suffering is deeply embedded within collective historical experiences. Ultimately, the essay highlights how Morrison and West use trauma not merely as a character attribute, but as a narrative device that critiques the cultural, psychological, and institutional consequences of violence and systemic oppression.
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