Gender Trauma in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night

Abstract

This research paper analyses gender trauma on Fitzgerald’s novel Tender Is the Night. Taking the ideas from Kali Tal, Judith Herman, CarthyCurth, UrvashiBhutalia and Kamala Bhasin’s notion of gender trauma the research analyses the mental illness of women and traumatic experience of women because of men’s unnatural behavior. In Tender is the Night, the female characters are traumatized by the men’s atrocities and increasing loneliness in domestic lives. Nicole is raped by her own father in her tender age and becomes a victims of sexual violence. The patriarchy is defined as a hypocritical nature of male atrocities and gender discrimination. Primarily, it focuses on the male atrocities which gives lots of torture to women. Women are traumatized from male atrocities and wild nature. Throughout the novel, Nicole represents the traumatic experience of women. Gender trauma is the consequences of male violence upon female and bearing sexual violence, suppression, oppression, domination and exploitation within their domestic sphere as well as public sphere in the society. The supreme ideology of male rules over the men trend society and constrained patriarchal norms and values. Gender trauma explicit when women remain in isolation, depression, rage, anxiety, and hyper alertness. The most crucial aspect is that they are from historically subordinated and on the side, they have no way out to reach their individual freedom. Under this kind of men’s suppression and oppression, the reaction of women character is outburst beyond the limit of male atrocities and gender discrimination. The intention of narrator is to reduce the trauma and resistance against male attitude. Women are living insecure life, as they are not safe by men’s immoral behavior even their own father and brother. Women are in danger because of male atrocities in the text. The injustice towards women: such as rape, abduction and domestic violence should be discouraged. So that women remains free from such traumatic condition.