García Márquez writes about trauma is a fairly straightforward and recognizable way. His way of writing is one where it is clear what the characters are feeling, and their pain is relatable to anyone who has ever experienced trauma like them. Another writer who tackles the idea of trauma in their characters is Alejo Carpentier in his novel The Kingdom of This World. While he is not necessarily thought of as an author who makes his characters embody trauma, they inherently do. In The Kingdom of This World, the reader follows a slave by the name of Ti Noël through his journey as a slave. Ti Noël has a distinct, but tragic type of trauma from his past. His trauma come to him as an almost unknown, but to the reader it is clear. He is unable to
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Even after Ti Noël pays for his freedom, he is not seen as a free man. He returns to Haiti only to be thrown in jail and forced to work as a slave to the state. In the text, Ti Noël tells a guard, “‘I’m too old” (Carpentier 110). After lodging his complaint, “A cudgel cracked on Ti Noël’s skull. Without further objections he began to climb the steep mountain, joining a long procession of children, pregnant girls, women, and old men, each whom carried a brick” (Carpentier 110). Ti Noël does not really know how to live without a master, and that is due to his traumatic past. He is good a taking orders and doing physical labor, and that is because he was never allowed to experience life as himself while living in slavery. For many slaves both in Haiti and anywhere else it took place, transitioning into freedom was extremely difficult and even impossible for some such as Ti Noël. He is never able to escape from the oppression. He is free for such a short time before being forced back into labor with the construction of the Citadelle Laferrière for Henri Christophe, a former slave. Ti Noël lived in terrible living conditions his whole life as a slave. He does not notice his trauma as much as the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude, but it is there. His trauma is something he has pushed so far down, that he does not notice its effects as a bad thing. He …show more content…
Like many of the slaves who eventually gain freedom, he could not flee from his past. Many slaves historically struggled with their adjustment to to the free world. Just like many soldiers who return from war, the slaves, did not know how to belong in society. They believe that freedom is impossible for them to ever really have, and that keeps them from taking advantage of what they have. While in many case most slaves did not have full human rights restored to them when they were free, they not longer had masters. Many of them still lived as if they were still under the rule of a whip though. They were traumatized into thinking they could never be free. There minds were still stuck back with their masters. The way in which Carpentier represents Ti Noël’s inability to move on is somewhat extraordinary. Ti Noël is stuck as a slave, and will never be able to fully get over it according to the theory Kolk and Hart present. Carpentier takes that theory, and applies it in such a way to Ti Noël that the readers can almost feel the frustration trauma brings with it. That is part of the problem with trauma in everyday life as well. People just can’t figure out how to reach out and get those suffering back into the present day. People are working on it, but it is hard and expensive to do. People do not understand what those with trauma are experiencing. Carpentier shows how
Even after Ti Noël pays for his freedom, he is not seen as a free man. He returns to Haiti only to be thrown in jail and forced to work as a slave to the state. In the text, Ti Noël tells a guard, “‘I’m too old” (Carpentier 110). After lodging his complaint, “A cudgel cracked on Ti Noël’s skull. Without further objections he began to climb the steep mountain, joining a long procession of children, pregnant girls, women, and old men, each whom carried a brick” (Carpentier 110). Ti Noël does not really know how to live without a master, and that is due to his traumatic past. He is good a taking orders and doing physical labor, and that is because he was never allowed to experience life as himself while living in slavery. For many slaves both in Haiti and anywhere else it took place, transitioning into freedom was extremely difficult and even impossible for some such as Ti Noël. He is never able to escape from the oppression. He is free for such a short time before being forced back into labor with the construction of the Citadelle Laferrière for Henri Christophe, a former slave. Ti Noël lived in terrible living conditions his whole life as a slave. He does not notice his trauma as much as the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude, but it is there. His trauma is something he has pushed so far down, that he does not notice its effects as a bad thing. He …show more content…
Like many of the slaves who eventually gain freedom, he could not flee from his past. Many slaves historically struggled with their adjustment to to the free world. Just like many soldiers who return from war, the slaves, did not know how to belong in society. They believe that freedom is impossible for them to ever really have, and that keeps them from taking advantage of what they have. While in many case most slaves did not have full human rights restored to them when they were free, they not longer had masters. Many of them still lived as if they were still under the rule of a whip though. They were traumatized into thinking they could never be free. There minds were still stuck back with their masters. The way in which Carpentier represents Ti Noël’s inability to move on is somewhat extraordinary. Ti Noël is stuck as a slave, and will never be able to fully get over it according to the theory Kolk and Hart present. Carpentier takes that theory, and applies it in such a way to Ti Noël that the readers can almost feel the frustration trauma brings with it. That is part of the problem with trauma in everyday life as well. People just can’t figure out how to reach out and get those suffering back into the present day. People are working on it, but it is hard and expensive to do. People do not understand what those with trauma are experiencing. Carpentier shows how