A Study of Partition Trauma in Anguish of Separation: Gobind Malhi’s Perspective

Abstract

This study examine trauma theory, as framed by Cathy Caruth, and concepts of identity in Gobind Malhi’s Anguish of Separation are shaped by postcolonial discourse, specifically through Partition and memory. Drawing on Edward Said’s Orientalism, Homi Bhabha’s hybridity, and Gayatri Spivak’s subaltern concept, the research analyzes how Partition trauma and colonial narratives marginalize voices and impact generations. Thematic analysis reveals that suffering, loss, and cultural alienation contribute to fractured identities. While Bhabha’s theory explicates hybrid identity formation, Spivak highlights the silence of subaltern voices, and Caruth addresses trauma’s enduring psychological effects. Said’s framework focuses on the ‘self/other’ binary and changes in Eastern identity. Collectively, these approaches demonstrate that personal and collective separation after Partition deeply impacts identity, memory, and power relations. Under colonial and postcolonial circumstances enforcing the concept of ‘us’ and ‘others’. Whereas, fractured sense of identity is visible which is at the heart of Bhabha’s hybridity theory.