Reflections of Postcolonial Trauma in Lisa Ko’s The Leavers

Abstract

The term "trauma" is used to describe ambiguous and long-term harms. The study of psychological trauma has led to the creative representation of literary trauma. Even though the cultural trauma theory is increasingly criticized as being unsuitable for the research agenda of postcolonial studies, the diversity and expanding number of responses to it in postcolonial criticism show the theory's continued appeal. The key question in the discussion of trauma theory and postcolonial literary studies is still whether trauma theory can be successfully "postcolonized" in the sense of being usefully combined with postcolonial theory. Maybe this is one of the unique abilities of literary criticism: to develop the capacity to recognize connections that we were previously unaware of. The search shows the significance of finding closure to transcend past ordeals. The search is an analytical study of Lisa Ko’s novel Leavers. It gives a brief background to the novel and the novelist which displays in what way the novel tackles postcolonial trauma. The main two characters who suffer trauma show the possibility of trauma recovery by achieving their closures. The novel succeeds in depicting trauma and achieving recovery through the main character’s pursuit to find his closure. The study also demonstrates that despite the multiplicity of traumatic causatives, victims have significant symptoms, and their lives and destiny are contingent on their abilities to achieve closure.