Recovering from Pre and Post War Trauma in Toni Morrison’s Home

ABSTRACT: War has always been a terrible experience for those involved in it. Its aftermaths aretraumatically devastating. The trauma becomes more complex when there are pre-war complications. ToniMorrison‘s Home(2012) uncovers, through the portrayal of Frank Money, the novel‘sprotagonist, both pre-warand post-war trauma,providing opportunities for recovery. From the lenses of psychoanalytic theory, thisessayanalyzesthe various techniques Morrisonuses to expose and denounce pre-war and post-war trauma. Equally, itexamines some redemptive measures she gives to the victims of this trauma. The paper is divided into twoparts,with the first one scrutinizing the dislocated lives of psychological traumatizedindividuals, and thesecondone highlighting Morrison‘s remedial means for their recovery.

KEYWORDS: pre-war, post-war, trauma, recovering, psychology