Volume 18, No. 3, 2021
Cultural Trauma In The Blue Between Sky And Water
Wardah Naveed , Dr. Irfan Ali Shah , Rabia Shah , Asad Amin , Farhan Ali
Abstract
This research paper attempts to examine the impact of cultural trauma on the Palestinians following Israel-Palestine’s war depicted in Susan Abulhawa‘s novel The Blue Between Sky And Water. War traumatizes human psyche, creates anxiety, dread, restlessness, and depression. Jeffery Alexander (2004) propagates that communities go through trauma when subjected to extreme scrutiny or radical views being thrusted upon them. This results into trauma transmitted from psyche of an individual to the whole culture. The impact of Israeli-Palestinian war on the psyche of Palestinians is discussed in Susan Abulhawa’s novel, The Blue between Sky and Water. The protracted war of Israel-Palestine affects the Palestinians to such an extent that they get cultural trauma. The people of Beit Daras, a small village in Palestine, is traumatized to their core. The trauma felt is not only cultural or individual but intergenerational too. Nazmiyeh bears the trauma of her rape and Mariam‘s death. She flashbacks always before their eyes. Mazen begins a resistance against Jews on what happened to his mother. Even though, Mamdouh has left for the US to gain financial stability feeling a loss of his roots. The author presents before us four generations of a family who become the target of homelessness and identity crisis due to war.
Pages: 89-96
Keywords: Cultural Trauma, Culture Shock, Palestine- Israel War, Nur.