Partition, Memory, and Trauma: Reimagining Post-Partition Identity in Sorayya Khan’s Five Queen’s Road

Abstract

This research article attempts to explore the psychological trauma of the Partition of India portrayed in Sorayya Khan’s novel, Five Queen’s Road (2009). This research is guided by the trauma theory presented by Judith Herman in her Trauma and Recovery (1997). Through textual analysis, this paper attempts to investigate the social and political environment of post-Partition Lahore where the story actualizes. Dina Lal, the protagonist converts to Islam after the Partition, as his birthplace, Lahore, happens to be in Muslim majority area, now Pakistan. He undergoes all the psychological trauma, marginalization, and victimization which were experienced by the people who went through the pangs of Partition. He loses his property, his sons migrate to India, his wife is abducted by unknown people, and ultimately he loses his own life by choosing his birthplace over migration. He is unable to understand the imaginary lines drawn between India and Pakistan. Through memory Khan has presented the trauma of millions of people affected by Partition.