Residential Encounters with Historical Narratives: Traumatic Rememberances in Salt and Saffron

Abstract

Kamila Shamsie’s literary contribution as her 2nd renowned work of an art emerges as a historical narrative which emphasizes in shaping our understanding of the traumatic past and its impact on the present. It provides a framework for interpreting partition events, constructing collective memory, and shaping national identity as well. It explores the role of female agency in memorizing and passing down these reminiscences to the next generation by storytelling and portrays them as inheritors of the legacy pigeonholed by courage, bravery, and audacity to keep these traumatic memories The present study aims to scrutinize identity, trauma, and memory as the three main themes, with the goal of understanding and illuminating the complex interactions between them. The novel deals with these three themes from a whole different perspective as Aliya shows some aspects of her identity as a postcolonial comeback and her dadi who experiences the partition by herself which becomes a traumatic episode of her life and eventually the memory that is quite prominent in the novel by every character. Maurice Halbwachs’ philosophy of collective memory stands out as a crucial element that has a significant influence on how historical and sociological processes happen. He argues that the memory of individual develops while having a deeper interaction with the community and shapes according to the larger events beyond the capacity of that particular individual. Furthermore, it bridges the gap between imaginary presents and historical realities, as they conjure up alternative interpretations of the past while being grounded in the factual framework of historical events.