"THE CONSTRUCTION AND DISSOLUTION OF THE MASCULINE SELF Re-reading the Unspeakable Trauma in Sorayya Khan’s Noor".

Abstract

The subject of male victimization, though ignored or silenced previously, forms a very important aspect of gender studies and its relevant fields of study. Just as male victimization is not voiced, male traumatic disorders are also silenced and rendered unspeakable. The presentation of trauma by most of the early writers in trauma studies (Cathy Caruth, Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub, and others) is that of a wound caused by experiences that are unspeakable and linguistically evasive. Unspeakability appears, in the works of these writers, as a preeminent feature of

trauma and traumatic experiences, evading materialization or even full comprehen- sion, not just for the victims but also for those around them. This research aims to

focus on the sociological aspect of trauma to establish that, in the cases of men, the traumatic experience remains unspeakable due to the conflicting positions of males in society. In the novel Noor (2003) by Sorayya Khan, the male protagonist (Ali), experiences the trauma of creating a masculine self, particularly during times of stress (the division of East Pakistan in this case). This masculine self, created under certain pressures, however, surrenders, rather than dissolves once confronted with the traumatic experiences of war. The whole process renders these men speechless as they continue to resolve the conflicts between their original instincts and the sociological roles they are forced to perform.

It is very intriguing that the lack of the ability to speak about the traumatic expe- riences is accompanied by the presence of an impetus to rediscover the traumatic

happenings, which may also help the men rediscover their true selves. Although Ali seemingly evades the horrors of his traumatic experiences, he may be seen working instantly to sow the seeds of revelations of truth by deciding to bring a child with him

from East Pakistan. These revelations manifest themselves as a series of artistic rep- resentations drawn or painted by Noor, the victim Sajida’s daughter. The implication is that both the victim and the perpetrator are connected by a traumatic memory,

which once materialized, releases both of them from the burden they have been car- rying upon their consciousness since the actual happenings. It seems as if both Ali and

Sajida find themselves locked into the memory of a single traumatic experience, and only they themselves can release each other from this interlocked binding. The elements of incomprehension are enhanced by the initial refusal on Ali’s part to talk about the actual events. Though he locks each and every detail very carefully into the innermost recesses of his self, his masculine self, created during wartime, recedes, rather dissolves along with the progression of the confrontation of the traumatic experiences. Even during the war, he discovered that he had lost his ability to perform sexually. This impotence is reflected in his life after he arrives in Pakistan. He loses his appetite, abstains from eating meat, refuses to marry, and demonstrates superhuman patience, which was never a part of his persona prior to the war. This research offers a study of the psychosocial aspects of the unspeakability of Ali’s traumatic experiences by examining the creation as well as dissolution of his masculine self in Noor by Sorayya Khan, supported by the theoretical framework developed from the fields of masculinity studies and trauma studies.