Representation of War Trauma in Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age

Abstract

Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age as a political writing in the context of Bangladesh independence war, depicts an ideological conflict between Bangladesh’s social democracy and Pakistani political leaders. Bengali people’s participation for social democracy justifies their appeal for social equality and moral responsibility. During the divested civil conflict, they bear witness of physical pain, anxiety, displacement and psychological fragmentation. Anam represents the traumatized Bangladesh self in totally through ongoing war of Bangladesh. The conflict of Bangladesh implies not only pain, victims, suffering and struggling but also apparently visible through their persistent creed in social democracy. The major character Rehana becomes a traumatized individual because her life is triggered by traumatic experiences of war devastation in Dhaka thus feels the nightmare horrors of her son who is involved in war as freedom fighter. Similarly, her anxiety, witnessing of destructed scenes, nightmare and fragmented psychology generate traumatized individual.