ELLIPSIS, SENTENCE FRAGMENTATION AND THE LINGUISTIC REPRESENTATION OF TRAUMA IN ADICHIE’S AMERICAN EMBASSY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16927988Keywords:
Trauma, Postcolonial Literature, Narrative Ethics, Cognitive Disruption, Literary RepresentationAbstract
This study examines trauma representation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s American Embassy, foregrounding the intersection of personal grief and sociopolitical violence in contemporary Nigerian society. Anchored in trauma theory, postcolonial critique, and affective linguistics, the study explores how the protagonist’s experience of loss and political instability is rendered through ellipsis, sentence fragmentation, temporal dislocation, and euphemistic imagery, such as the recurring palm oil metaphor. These narrative strategies simulate cognitive and emotional disruption, conveying the inexpressible dimensions of trauma while negotiating ethical considerations in storytelling. The analysis further highlights how trauma operates both individually and collectively, shaped by social, cultural, and institutional contexts, and how literature functions as a medium for ethical engagement, empathetic reading, and critical reflection on structural violence. By integrating psychological, linguistic, and sociocultural perspectives, the study illuminates the formal and thematic mechanisms through which African literature represents trauma and mediates its complex psychological, ethical, and social implications
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