A Psychoanalytical Study of Sorayya Khan’s Noor With Reference to Freud’s Traumatic Neurosis

Abstract

This study examines the horrors of war and its impact on the major characters in Sorayya Khan’s Noor by applying Freud’s concept of traumatic neuroses, in which she states that in traumatic war neuroses, the ego defends itself against outer dangers, whereas in transference neuroses, the ego has its libido as its enemy. In this novel, she explores the history, anxiety, rape, violence, panic situations, mutilation, and repressed memories, all of which are unsettling and even painful for the characters. Those who were traumatized during the war sustained permanent injuries, which contributed to their postwar depression. This paper is also noteworthy because it demonstrates how depression transforms a man into an aberration. Not only that, but it has looked at what causes PTSD and other post-traumatic reactions, particularly some that have just recently been identified as psychosomatic diseases brought on by conflict. Using psychiatric intervention and neurotic anxiety brought on by certain traumatic situations, this article also assesses the characteristics of the chosen work, Sorayya Khan’s Noor.