• Mahak Balchandani
• Dr. H.K. Jha

The second half of the late 20th century brought forth ‘trauma’ as a critical theme in worldwide literature. Wars, colonization, slavery, segregation, atomic bombing, genocide and their aftermath led to assault, which was as much psychological in nature as was physical and/or emotional. More so for females, for the sheer lack of voice. This paper studies the black female characters of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Winning novel Beloved (1987) who are the victims of slavery having a “repetition compulsion”(Freud) of the traumatic instances. The paper employs Cathy Caruth’s Trauma Theory illustrated in Unclaimed Experience to study trauma’s ‘uncontrolled re-experience’ through the use of imagery. The imagery of tree, milk, water and gravestone will be explored as driving factors which lead to agencylessness in the revisitation of trauma suffered due to slavery by the female characters of Sethe, Denver and Beloved.

Trauma, Revisitation, Imagery, Agencylessness, Slavery, Female, Black

"Revisitation, Imagery and Agencylessness of Trauma : A Study of Female Characters in Toni Morrison's Beloved through the Lens of Caruth's Trauma Theory", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 1, page no.f385-f388, January-2024, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2401544.pdf

"Revisitation, Imagery and Agencylessness of Trauma : A Study of Female Characters in Toni Morrison's Beloved through the Lens of Caruth's Trauma Theory", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.11, Issue 1, page no. ppf385-f388, January-2024, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2401544.pdf