DR. J. SHRIVAISHNAVI , MS. NARMATHA.T , MS. DHARSHINI. G , DR. R. SANGEETHA , MS. SOUNDHARYA. M
DOI: https://doi.org/Room (2010) by Emma Donoghue provides a powerful portrayal of trauma using the exclusive voice of a captive child narrator, Jack. Grounded in Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory, this research explores how the novel captures the psychological consequences of long-term captivity, the fragmentation of self, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma within the confines of physical entrapment. The structure of the narrative refracted through Jack’s limited understanding presents the tension between experience and its representation as a foundational problem in trauma studies. This article argues that Room reconfigures trauma as an embodied, relational, and spatial process rather than a single catastrophic event. It also examines the healing function of storytelling and narrative reconstruction as a therapeutic process. Donoghue’s novel is transformed into a space where not only trauma is represented but also re-lived as well, enabling readers to partake in an empathetic response to the characters’ rehabilitation process. The study contributes to debates on representing child trauma, feminist ethics of care, and the politics of witnessing in twenty-first-century fiction.
