From Esoteric Religiosity to Ethical Inclusivity: An Investigation of the Detrimental Effects of Religious Trauma in The Saint of Bright Doors

Abstract

In fantasy, the conflation of disparate familiar conventions and concurrent subverted delineation of the same often renders a reimagination of the essentialist socio-political norms. Such transgressions of recognizable circumstances by dint of fantastical elements also engender a feeling of ‘hesitation’, as argued by Tzvetan Todorov, which also encourages readers to eulogize the protagonists for their prowess in undertaking an arduous quest to resolve a multi-layered mystery. However, the celebration of magical environments and supernatural characters by popular imagination often surpasses the protagonists’ emotional challenges and intermittent indecisiveness to acquire empowerment. Sometimes, their objective of seeking the truth is hindered by the cognitive deficiencies induced by childhood abuse, domestic violence, the necessity of achieving belongingness, and so on. In this regard, this study attempts to analyze the detrimental effect of religious trauma on the individual pursuit of redefining fantastical traits in The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera. With the seamless unification of traditional fantasy elements such as invisible ‘antigods’, lethal catechism, and magic doors, with the modern socio-cultural developments in terms of ringing phones, emails, quarantines, and social distancing, the select fiction depicts the protagonist’s journey into a world that is imbibed with both mundane and mystic implications. This study further seeks to investigate the consequences of indoctrinated religiosity in restraining agency hued with fantastical peculiarities.