Women and psychological trauma of 9/11 in Amy Waldman’s The Submission
On September 11, 2001, the world was stunned into silence as four hijacked airplanes crashed into two of America’s iconic landmarks, namely the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. For the first time, perhaps since the Vietnam War, the entire United States of America was engulfed in a mutual sense...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2017
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11160/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11160/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11160/1/15368-49551-1-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | On September 11, 2001, the world was stunned into silence as four hijacked airplanes crashed into two of
America’s iconic landmarks, namely the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. For the first time, perhaps
since the Vietnam War, the entire United States of America was engulfed in a mutual sense of loss and
inconsolable grief. 2996 people, a vast number of them unarmed civilians including all the passengers aboard
the four hijacked airplanes, lost their lives in what was perceived by many to be the worst terrorist attack of the
twenty-first century. Occurrence of such a colossal tragedy has led to producing a large corpus of textual
representation of the event including countless novels such as Amy Waldman’s The Submission (2012). This
study focuses on analysing The Submission by Amy Waldman using the theory of Psychoanalysis to explore the
concept of psychological trauma and the effects of PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) on female characters
affected by the tragedy of 9/11. The analysis, which is mostly based on Wilson and Keane (2004) and Caruth
(2001) psychoanalysis theories, seeks to explore Waldman’s perception of the process of healing from the
devastating tragedy and psychological trauma of the female characters of the story. It is believed that
Waldman’s novel does not only portray the trauma of the characters but also presents the path of recovery and
overcoming the PTSD of those who were emotionally wounded by the tragedy of 9/11. |
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