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Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act

The concept of trauma explains a disruptive experience with belated effects that are hardly controlled or mastered. Trauma damages one’s psychology by distorting the sense of self and the perception of the world. However, the application of conventional trauma theories focuses on the pains and suffe...

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Main Authors: He, Qijia, Kaur, Hardev, Ujum, Diana Abu, Ching, Florence Toh Haw
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academy Publication 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/1/114267.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/
https://tpls.academypublication.com/index.php/tpls/article/view/8518
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spelling my.upm.eprints.1142672025-01-13T04:16:38Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/ Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act He, Qijia Kaur, Hardev Ujum, Diana Abu Ching, Florence Toh Haw The concept of trauma explains a disruptive experience with belated effects that are hardly controlled or mastered. Trauma damages one’s psychology by distorting the sense of self and the perception of the world. However, the application of conventional trauma theories focuses on the pains and sufferings in the victim’s life only. It has been critiqued the reluctance to acknowledge that hurting others may cause some perpetrators to experience psychological injuries as well. Drawing on Dominick LaCapra’s concepts of historical trauma and structural trauma, acting out and working through, as well as Judith Butler’s concepts of posttraumatic symptoms, which are described as vulnerability, grief and aggression, this study inquires into the traumatic experience of the protagonist Fiona Maye in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act. It aims to investigate how she transforms from a victim to a perpetrator within the context of trauma. Specifically, it explores how Fiona’s personal traumas happened earlier in life are reactivated and drive her to take the role of a perpetrator, and to hurt Adam Henry with her coldness and aggression that facilitates Adam’s death. Besides, the study also looks at how Fiona gets psychological injuries from her perpetrations. This study concludes that the perpetrator’s aggression in this situation serves as a method of self-protection and release of her repressed trauma, but traumatizing others can never be the antidote for her plights, and she is inevitably traumatized by scheming and carrying out the villainies that hurt others. Academy Publication 2024-08-09 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/1/114267.pdf He, Qijia and Kaur, Hardev and Ujum, Diana Abu and Ching, Florence Toh Haw (2024) Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 14 (8). pp. 2465-2473. ISSN 1799-2591; eISSN: 2053-0692 https://tpls.academypublication.com/index.php/tpls/article/view/8518 10.17507/tpls.1408.19
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description The concept of trauma explains a disruptive experience with belated effects that are hardly controlled or mastered. Trauma damages one’s psychology by distorting the sense of self and the perception of the world. However, the application of conventional trauma theories focuses on the pains and sufferings in the victim’s life only. It has been critiqued the reluctance to acknowledge that hurting others may cause some perpetrators to experience psychological injuries as well. Drawing on Dominick LaCapra’s concepts of historical trauma and structural trauma, acting out and working through, as well as Judith Butler’s concepts of posttraumatic symptoms, which are described as vulnerability, grief and aggression, this study inquires into the traumatic experience of the protagonist Fiona Maye in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act. It aims to investigate how she transforms from a victim to a perpetrator within the context of trauma. Specifically, it explores how Fiona’s personal traumas happened earlier in life are reactivated and drive her to take the role of a perpetrator, and to hurt Adam Henry with her coldness and aggression that facilitates Adam’s death. Besides, the study also looks at how Fiona gets psychological injuries from her perpetrations. This study concludes that the perpetrator’s aggression in this situation serves as a method of self-protection and release of her repressed trauma, but traumatizing others can never be the antidote for her plights, and she is inevitably traumatized by scheming and carrying out the villainies that hurt others.
format Article
author He, Qijia
Kaur, Hardev
Ujum, Diana Abu
Ching, Florence Toh Haw
spellingShingle He, Qijia
Kaur, Hardev
Ujum, Diana Abu
Ching, Florence Toh Haw
Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
author_facet He, Qijia
Kaur, Hardev
Ujum, Diana Abu
Ching, Florence Toh Haw
author_sort He, Qijia
title Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
title_short Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
title_full Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
title_fullStr Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
title_full_unstemmed Representing perpetrator trauma in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act
title_sort representing perpetrator trauma in ian mcewan’s the children act
publisher Academy Publication
publishDate 2024
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/1/114267.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114267/
https://tpls.academypublication.com/index.php/tpls/article/view/8518
_version_ 1821108004928356352
score 13.226694

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