Memory as a Conduit for Trauma and Healing: A Psychoanalytic Study in Anuradha Roy’s the Folded Earth

Abstract

Trauma memories often have a powerful impact in causing psychological and emotional distress, recollection of those haunting events is unlike usual remembrances, they are more intrusive, fragmented and vivid to process for an individual. Those preserved memories in the unconscious mind can profoundly get triggered when an individual encounters a similar traumatic environment or event even after a long period. The purpose of the study is to explore how memories can be both a source of grief and a lane towards healing in Anuradha Roy’s novel The Folded Earth. The study uses a qualitative textual analysis, a close reading method and the trauma theory of Cathy Caruth as a theoretical framework. Anuradha Roy, an Indian writer whose narrative often delves into the themes of trauma, memory and identity crises that occur due to the psychological and emotional suffering of her characters. In the novel The Folded Earth, the protagonist Maya’s memories of her deceased husband Michael and her past life are often interwoven with her present psyche which causes distress in her present life. This paper brings out the complex interplay between trauma and memory, where memories play dual roles as a conduit of trauma and healing in the process of bereavement for an affected individual.