Recovery from Trauma in The Return of the Soldier

Abstract

Soldiers’ participation in wars, either directly or indirectly, has been the study object of war narratives since a long. This research aims to analyze the significant role of trauma survivors until the early twentieth century, when the First War was declared, by exposing the trauma and its recovery in the novel. This thesis addresses, more specifically, how war narratives of the First World War reflect upon the war trauma, which brought equally disastrous consequences for women, men and children and how the War contributed to the new perspective to look upon. By bringing into fore the homecoming of shell-shocked soldiers West tries to capture the way characters handle and redeem trauma by recalling his past life and triggering him by the death of his only son when the soldier returns home suffering amnesia as war trauma providing the healing touch for survival.