CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 BIODATA OF JANET CHINEYE EZE AND EIMEAR MCBRIDE

JANET CHINENYE EZE

Nwaeze (2021) explains that Janet Chinenye Eze is a native of Enugu state and she has a

Master's degree in International Business Management from Coventry University in the United

Kingdom and is currently pursuing her nursing studies there. She earned a Bachelor's degree in

business administration from Babcock University. She is the creator of CjayBeauty Cosmetics

and a beauty and wellness instructor. She enjoys window shopping and travelling, and she is

adamant that we can only find true love if we truly love ourselves. She founded CjayBeauty

Cosmetics and also works as a beauty and wellness instructor (Chibuzor)

EIMEAR MCBRIDE

According to Gilligan (2014) Irish parents, who were both nurses, gave birth to McBride in

Liverpool in 1976. When she was three, the family relocated back to Ireland. Her early years

were spent in Tubbercurry, Sligo, and Mayo. She remembered starting to write at the age of

seven or eight. When McBride was 17, she relocated to London to start her studies at The Drama

Centre, but she soon realized that she had no interest in becoming an actress.

McBride, who has a passion for Russian literature, visited Saint Petersburg in 2000 for four

months. She travelled and worked as a temp in an office after she got back. This is when she

finished her first novel. She briefly went back to Cork in 2006, when she started writing her

second book. McBride lived in Norwich for several years before relocating to London in 2017

with her husband and children. She provided forewords to Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls

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Trilogy (Faber/FSG), Sundog: the Lyrics of Scott Walker (Faber & Faber), and Selected Poems of

Anna Akhmatova (Folio Society). Her short fiction has been broadcast on 'BBC Radio' as well as

in The Guardian, Prospect magazine, The Long Gaze Back (Little Island Press), Dubliners 100

(Tramp Press), Winter Papers (Curlew Editions), and The Long Gaze Back (Little Island Press).

2017 saw McBride receive the University of Reading's Beckett Research Center's first-ever

Creative Fellowship. She has won the following awards-

2017 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Lesser Bohemians

2016 Goldsmiths Prize shortlist for The Lesser Bohemians

2014 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award winner for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction winner for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

2014 Folio Prize shortlist for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

2013 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize winner for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

2013 Goldsmiths Prize winner for A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Psychoanalytic theory was selected as the theory for this study. Exploring one's

unconscious, unrecognised urges might help one understand oneself, according to the

Psychoanalytic theory. Conscious and unconscious mental conflicts frequently underlie

emotional and psychological issues including melancholy and anxiety.

The concept of Psychoanalytic theory was put out by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud

(1994), the conscious mind is aware of the current observations, memories, ideas, and feelings. A

preconscious mind stores the accessible memory underneath this conscious mind. One can recall

memories in the conscious mind from this preconscious mind. In this theory, the existence of two

mental levels is uncontested. Freud (1991) these two layers are merely the smallest components

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of the mind, while the subconscious of the mind makes up a larger portion. The unconscious

mind contributes significantly to personality, just like an iceberg does. It acts as a storehouse for

instincts and wishes from the prehistoric era. The preconscious mind mediates these. The

unconscious mind is important and, according to Freud's Psychoanalytic theory, it most strongly

influences a person's behaviours.

Outside of our cognitive consciousness, the unconscious mind stores sensations, thoughts, urges,

and memories. The majority of the contents are undesirable impulses, unpleasant experiences,

socially unacceptable thoughts and feelings, irrational urges and beliefs, etc. Even if we are

ignorant of these underlying effects, our behaviour is nevertheless influenced by the unconscious

mind, Human behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by the unconscious mind. The

conscious mind refers to awareness of objects, events, and information in a present movement or

situation. The preconscious mind is the part of the mind that represents memory and stored

knowledge, and the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories

that are outside of our conscious awareness. Hence, according to Freud (1949) repression,

sublimation, displacement, rationalization, regression, injustice etc can be felt by a human being,

either in the conscious, subconscious or preconscious.

According to Tyson (2006), Psychoanalysis gives insights not only into the playwright’s mind

but on that of the characters which are representative of human personality. Furthermore, Fortier

(1997) cites three dimensions in which psychoanalysis engages with art and literature. Firstly, it

can be used to psychoanalyze the artist, secondly to psychoanalyze the characters and thirdly to

demonstrate the pattern of the psyche in general. Frontier (1997) notes that, a text or theatre is

open to each of these approaches. Any playwright or dramatic character is susceptible to

psychoanalytic analysis, and in the realm of character, drama and prose has yielded particularly

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rich materials for psychoanalysis” (61). Hence, this theory has been selected because it is going

to aid the researcher in delving into the minds of the characters and evaluating the antecedents in

the conscious, subconscious or preconscious that the psychological traumatic experiences in A

Girl Is a Half-formed Thing and Nnenna

2.3 THE CONCEPT OF TRAUMA

The word "trauma" comes from the Greek trauma, which means "wound." This phrase can be

used to refer to both emotional and physical trauma. This chapter discusses the psychological

effects of trauma rather than actual physical harm or injury. However, the lines between causes

and consequences frequently blur, and physical harm that has a long-lasting psychological effect

also qualifies in the context under consideration. For the sake of this study, it is crucial to make a

distinction between trauma and traumatic experiences in order to provide clarity. This is evident

in Corsini's (2002) description of trauma as the aftermath of a painful occurrence, whereas the

'traumatic event or experience' constitutes the harmful event itself.

Corsini’s (2002) definitions of the former are quoted below, followed by his definition of the

latter:

The result of a painful event, physical or mental, causing immediate

damage to the body or shock to the mind. Psychological traumas include emotional
shocks that have an enduring effect on the personality, such as rejection, divorce, combat
experiences, civilian catastrophes, and racial or religious discrimination (1019

In addition, Scaer (2005) describes the effects of trauma on the brain as follows:

In the brain of the trauma victim, the synapses, neurons, and

neurochemicals have been substantially and indefinitely altered by the
effects of a unique life experience. Not surprisingly, the perceptual experience that
constitutes the mind has been equally altered ... Trauma
thus represents a time-based corruption of learning. The brain in trauma has lost its

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 ability to distinguish past from present, and as a result, it cannot adapt to the future. This
confusion of time further immobilizes the trauma victim, who still remains immobilized
by a thwarted freeze discharge. Procedural memory is bombarded by environmental and
internal cues that represent old, unresolved threats (58)

It is clear from the description above how changes in neurological functions might result in the

emergence of a range of physical and psychological symptoms. This serves as an example of

how the line separating physical pain from psychological trauma overlaps. This is confirmed by

Sutton (2002), who claims that sensory overload that occurs after a traumatic incident might in

fact cause long-term harm to brain functions. According to Struwig (2008), when defining

trauma, the incident and symptoms cannot be separated. According to her, it is important to take

into account a variety of factors, including the incident, culture, social support, resilience, and

trauma-related symptoms. In contrast to stress, trauma triggers biological emergency reactions

that last over time. This study specifically looks into how much of an impact these long-lasting

responses have on the musician. Both stress and trauma are viewed by Scaer (2005) as existing

on the same continuum, but he distinguishes between the sympathetic nervous system, which is

in charge of the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which is in

charge of triggering the freeze response, which is frequently involved in trauma-related diseases.

Trauma has effects that are as diverse and wide-ranging as its causes, and they are frequently

unexpected. Trauma, according to Hartman (2003) gives off a strange signal. These messages are

distinct from those that the body is accustomed to receiving. Numerous often conflicting actions,

feelings, and mental states have been recognised as symptoms of trauma, such as intrusive

thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations, numbing or dissociation, avoidance,

hyperarousal and an inability to relax, depression, antisocial behaviour, difficulty concentrating,

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and a wide range of combinations of these and other symptoms. Physical, emotional, cognitive,

behavioural, spiritual, or societal reactions to trauma are all possible.

2.4 EXTANT LITERARY CRITICISM IN AFRICAN LITERATURE

In African literature, the idea of trauma takes on many different manifestations, ranging from

colonialism, patriarchy to postcolonial happenings. Borzaga (2010) states that there are degrees

of trauma, manifold shapes of the damages inflicted upon a subject that has been the victim of

emotional, and psychological trauma. According to Hartman (2015), there is a unique

relationship between words and wounds, and literature in particular and the arts, in general,

allow us to explore this relationship in ways that are impractical through other kinds of

representation. Vickroy (2002) posits that the ability to incorporate the rhythms, processes, and

uncertainties of trauma within the consciousness and structures of these works is something

special about literary writing. More than other kinds of language, literary language allows for the

investigation of severe, confusing, illogical, unsettling, and contradictory events—all of which

are traits of trauma. It should be noted that trauma is an experience involving overwhelming

feelings brought on by a close call with death or danger, evoking terror rather than merely fear,

and whose extreme nature resists being comprehended, processed, recalled, and represented in

ways that are typical. Because of this, the figurative tools found in poetry and fiction can be used

to depict this unique phenomenon. Therefore, literary language's creative potential provides our

finest way of understanding and describing it.

According to Gikandi (2004), "colonialism served as the crucible in which modern African

literature was created (379) This fundamental fact implies that all facets of this literature,

including who wrote it, the language used to express it, the forms it frequently takes, the themes

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that predominate in it, the audiences it was intended for, the manner in which it was published,

and all the circumstances surrounding its creation and consumption, have their roots in the

context of a vast, continent-wide experience of profound social trauma. Truly, if there is one

feature that unites Africans across vast geographical, linguistic, and cultural differences, it is this

common experience.

Maley (1996) states that before the coming of the white men:

We did not know what Africa was, Europeans despised everything about Africa, and in
France, people spoke of a civilised and a barbarian world. The barbarian world was
Africa, and the civilised world was Europe. Therefore, the best one could do with an
African was to assimilate him: the idea was to turn him into a Frenchman with black skin
(7).

Thus, the horrors of colonialism are further heightened:

The violence of colonialism traumatises families throughout Africa. Many of them

experience the loss or death of family members. The colonised lack the necessities of life.
The colonisers keep the colonised occupied with obtaining their daily bread in order to
tighten their control over them. Such tactics give the colonised little opportunity to make
plans for a better future. They are powerless to resist their abusers because of their
vulnerability. The colonised people's unjustifiable loss of rights was a reflection of the
oppression of colonialism. (Fanon 24:1967)

Numerous African literary works describe these atrocities in order to portray the psychological

effects and aftereffects of colonisation. Through the educational system, colonialism had a

significant impact on the psychology of African people. According to Rodney (1982), colonial

educational systems sought to change the attitude of educated Africans through miseducation,

and remnants of these systems may still be found in the majority of colonised Africa. People

were persuaded to reject their cultural identity and adopt European thought. Due to this

miseducation, "those who had the most education were to be found the most alienated Africans

on the continent" (Rodney, 1982, p. 248). This is accentuated by Abel (2011), who emphasised

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that this psychological trauma makes us feel inferior and it is the reason why foreign goods are

more frequently purchased in the nation than domestically made ones, colonialism had the

psychological consequence of making Africans perceive themselves as inferior to white people.

This is due to the perception that the foreign product is more advanced than their "local"

offering. In support of this, Tutu (2011) asserts

Africans are tasked with uncovering the truth about our troubled past and burying the
demons of that past so they won't come back to haunt us. And so that we would therefore
aid in the recovery of a traumatised and wounded people—for we are all wounded people
in South Africa—as well as to advance national harmony and reconciliation (13)

African writers like Chinua Achebe, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Frantz Fanon, and other African

writers have all written on colonialism. Each of these authors discusses how writing may interact

with collective suffering and investigate traumatic experiences that have not been fully explored

in standard Western trauma studies, such as physical displacement and racism in the postcolonial

context. For instance, the condition of the colonial subject is described in the title of Tsitsi

Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions. This novel explores the idea that colonialism may have an

emotional or mental toll on its subjects in, for example, nightmares, eating disorders, and

emotional breakdown, which points out that traumatic experiences on both an individual and

communal level are likely to occur frequently in a variety of forms.

Patriarchy's emergence has also undoubtedly had a terrible impact on Africa. According to Bell

(2004)

patriarchy is a political-social structure that maintains that men are innately superior to all
things and people deemed weak, particularly women, and that they have the right to rule
and dominate the weak and to uphold their dominance through various acts of
psychological terrorism and physical violence (1).

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 Women are oppressed and viewed as being weak. Achebe depicts this patriarchal society in

Things Fall Apart, which is regarded as the official debut of African literature. No one is allowed

to speak or express their sentiments in Okonkwo's house since he controls there like a god. A

similar circumstance is found in a number of other literary works by African authors, including

Buchi Emecheta's Second Class Citizen and Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God.

As a result, some women experience the psychological trauma of feeling inadequate and shy as

they mature, while others are subjected to ongoing physical abuse, which negatively affects their

mental health. Trauma and identity crises are often caused by violence against women. In

addition to beatings, there is also forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced

sterilisation, forced rape, forced marriage, and sexual harassment. Violence against women

"knows no boundaries of geography, culture, or wealth," according to Kofi Annan. It is arguably

the most egregious and extensive violation of human rights" (quoted in Kimani 2). In a similar

vein, the Johns Hopkins study emphasises that violence against women extends beyond acts of

individual brutality. Millions of women around the world perceive the phenomena to be a way of

life due to its widespread presence that transcends social and economic boundaries (Kimani 3).

Early on in the literary world, the psychological ramifications of sexual violence, which are now

also a significant issue, were not given serious consideration. Ogbazi (1993) claims further that

the main characters in Vera's books are:

... innocent victims. They are helpless, docile, and defenceless creatures. They have
inherited the disorder of their society, and as a result of how the social structure affects
them, they endure awful experiences. They are the ones who are blamed for having
endured such hardships, not because of their flaws or failures in life or unfavourable
natural attributes, nor even because of their mistakes in judgement, but rather because
their society has forced these hardships onto them. (129)

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Understanding colonial trauma such as eviction, forced migration, diaspora, slavery, segregation,

racism, police brutality, Corruption and genocide is a major emphasis of postcolonial trauma.

Writers in Africa have evaluated the above themes in their writing. Series of poetry, prose and

drama have explained how disillusioned Africans are with the realities of post-colonial rule,

citing that it has brought as much trauma as the colonial rule. Gourevitch (2004) analyses the

genocide in Africa and details the eight hundred thousand Rwandans who were killed in just one

hundred days:

Even while the killing was low-tech—mostly done with a machete—it happened
incredibly quickly: in just a hundred days, at least eight million people were slain out of a
population of roughly seven and a half million. Rwandans frequently mention a million
dead, and they could be accurate. Nearly three times as many people died in Rwanda as
Jews did during the Holocaust. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with atomic
weapons, it was the most effective mass killing (45).

There is no doubt that this incident left many dark scars in the heart of Rwandans and to date, not

many families have recovered from such a dastard act. All over Africa, genocide happens in a

coveted manner which ends lives and renders many others homeless. Aside from genocide, sex

trafficking, slavery and racism is rife in the society and African critics and scholars have

continued to evaluate these happenings and the psychological effect it has on the society.

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