Echoes of Trauma: The Interplay of Bodies and Borders in Gitanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand

Abstract

This research paper explores traumatic memory associated with bodies and boundaries in the aftermath of World War I as represented in Tomb of Sand written by Gitanjali Shree. The contention of this paper is to analyse how witnessing violence and migration creates a sense of shock by transmitting the trauma in the selected novel of Gitanjali Shree Tomb of Sand.  This research probes how the narrative depicts the painful aftermath of India's partition, emphasising the interplay of bodies, borders, and memory, particularly concerning women's experiences. Gitanjali Shree represents the influence of trauma in the mind of the individual by presenting the character Ma and how intergenerational trauma embodies her and restricts her way of living.  This study analyses the novel through the lens of Cathy Caruth's notion of trauma, as stated in her seminal work Unclaimed Experience. The role of delayed, fragmented, and repetitive experiences of trauma is emphasised through this theory which, provides a crucial framework for understanding the characters’ psychological and emotional landscapes. Tomb of Sand with its nonlinear storytelling aligns with Cathy Caruth’s ideas and mirrors the disorienting and haunting nature of trauma. This research enhances our understanding of how literature relates history, collective memory, and personal experiences that serve as a site of trauma, healing, and recollection. Thus, providing the readers with an engaging storytelling method Shree's Tomb of Sand serves as a healer to partition sufferers.