Trauma in Washington Black’s Character as Seen in Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black

https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v7i2.67029

Reynaldi Alexander Agung(1), Nur Saktiningrum(2*)

(1) English Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada
(2) English Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


This research analyzes the effect of trauma on Washington Black, the main character in Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black. Joy DeGruy’s theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is applied in order to understand how Black’s past experiences, trauma, and slavery affect his life. The primary data used in this research are taken from the novel Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, which includes characterization and description of the character Washington Black found in sentences and paragraphs in the novel. This research shows that Washington Black’s traumatic experiences are the main driving force of his actions which indicates the inability to separate his past from his decisions. The character Washington Black is a perfect model of someone who possesses Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.


Keywords


trauma; post-traumatic slave syndrome; character development

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References

Allen, J. (2013). Mentalizing in the development and treatment of attachment trauma. Karnac Books.

Cuder-Dominguez, P. (2017). Oblique kinds of blackness in Esi Edugyan’s Half Blood Blues. Atlantis: Journal of The Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 39(02), 89-104. https://doi.org/10.28914/atlantis-2017-39.2.05.

DeGruy, J. (2005). Post traumatic slave syndrome. Uptone Press.

Edugyan, Esi. (2018). Washington Black. Alfred A. Knopf.

Heidarizadeh, N. (2015). The significant role of trauma in literature and psychoanalysis. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 192, 788-795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.093.

Rushdy, A. (1999). Neo-slave narratives: studies in the social logic of literary form. Oxford University Press.

Visser, I. (2011). Trauma theory and postcolonial literary studies. Journal Of Postcolonial Writing, 47(3), 270-282. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2011.569378.



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v7i2.67029

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