NEGOTIATING STATELESSNESS AND FRAGMENTED IDENTITY: A STUDY OF TRAUMA IN AMITAV GHOSH’S THE SHADOW LINES

Ramit Saini; Jitender Singh

doi:10.29121/shodhgyan.v4.i2.2026.142

Authors

Ramit Saini Research Scholar, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India
Dr. Jitender Singh Assistant Professor, Department of English, Hindu College, Sonipat, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhgyan.v4.i2.2026.142

Keywords:

Statelessness, Fragmented Identity, Trauma, Postcolonialism, Memory, Partition

Abstract [English]

Amitav Ghosh’s novels examine how history, memory, displacement and identity coexist in postcolonial societies. In The Shadow Lines (1988), he examines how political boundaries and communal violence shape people’s lives. This paper argues that the novel’s characters navigate statelessness, fragmentation, and trauma. They are citizens by law, but they feel psychologically and culturally stateless because of partition, migration, and new national borders. Such events shake their sense of self and community; they feel emotionally distant, lose memories, and are always searching for a sense of belonging. This study uses trauma theory and postcolonial ideas to examine that events such as the Partition of India and the 1964 communal riots affect the main characters: the unnamed narrator, Tridib, Tha’mma, Ila, and May Price. Ghosh challenges conventional thinking and notions of nationhood in this study by showing that borders cannot separate people’s stories, histories, and relationships. As a result of trauma and its impact on identity, it crosses borders and is, therefore, not easily resolved, but it can have a long-term effect on our identity. The article reveals that trauma is a common historical experience that shapes postcolonial society. The Shadow Lines provides a humanistic perspective that goes beyond strict nationalism and values empathy, shared history and understanding across cultures.

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