THE OTHER TRAUMA—A DISCUSSION OF KHALED HOSSEINNI’S AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED (2013)

Abstract

This paper focuses on building the argument that trauma goes beyond the popular definitions such as war experiences, rape, and many other known forms of trauma. As such, the discussion focuses on what the writers refer to as the 'other trauma,' which comes about as an experience of a situation that the human mind is unable to adjust to, in ways that creates acceptance, but rather erects barriers. The paper also argues that unlike previous discussions on trauma, which suggests that trauma returns in flashbacks, there are other traumatic experiences that victims live with on a daily basis, and as such, dictates the course of their lives. In stressing on this view of the 'other traumatic' experience, the paper makes reference to Khaled Hosseinni's characters in his novel, And the mountains echoed. The paper adapts the three parts of trauma posited by Freud in the discussion of the traumatic experience of certain characters in Hosseinni's novel. Freud's exposition on trauma is used to build and sustain the argument that trauma can equally be experienced as a result of mundane everyday human activities and decisions that also have the ability to destabilze the human mind. The paper concludes that the original event that has led to trauma is as traumatic as recalling the event itself, and that literature depicts how such events can distort human life and existence emotionally, socially, and psychologically.