Reading History, Crisis And Cultural Trauma Of 9/ 11 In Khakpour's; The Last Illusion

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Dr. Attiya Khanam, Abdul Rashid & Dr. Rashida Ahmad

Abstract

Major historical events change the course of life and thinking, 9/11 is one of them as discourses were constructed and reconstructed after this horrific incident. In Post 9/11 Scenario, the discourse of fear, fright and trauma was emerged at large. The leading fiction writers from America and the world attempted to re-write the memory of 9/11 and urged for a move of social and civic justice to the minorities. The present study explores the theme of erasing crisis and illusions of cultural trauma of 9/11 in Khakpour’s novel, The Last Illusion. The theoretical insights have been taken from Alexander (2013), Towards the Theory of Cultural Trauma and Craps (2013) Postcolonial Witnessing: Trauma out of Bounds. The textual analysis reveals that cultural trauma in American society is not only a Post 9/11 manifestation but even it existed in Pre 9/11 times as America has been stumbling in chaos and uncertainties for so long. The American world in the novel seems to be scary both in pre and post 9/11 times. Zal a feral child -the protagonist of the novel, remains an outsider in the American society because despite their society’s tall claims about democracy they have been unable to accommodate the ones who are not the insiders of it. Ultimately, it remains at the edge of its fall. The incident of 9/11 proved an evident of such social hollowness in American culture. Zal, the protagonist of the novel urges for erasing the illusions of chaos and cultural trauma in the American society against chaos and trauma. The present study unveils the historical event documented in the form of fiction and highly significant to understand human life tragedies.

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