Wounds Seen and Unseen: On Revisiting Trauma in Canadian and Indian Prison Narratives

Abstract

Trauma Studies and Prison Narratives have emerged over the past few decades as the most significant fields in the humanities. There has been a significant discussion regarding the psychological effects of incarceration; however, literature examining prison as a site of trauma is unusual. Focusing on Iftikhar Gilani's My Days in Prison and Rudy Wiebe's Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman, I analyze how prison narratives represent prison as a violent space that inflicts trauma in its characters. These prison narratives represent Yvonne Johnson, the prisoner in Wiebe's Stolen Life, and Gilani as victims of acute psychological trauma faced due to the sheer viciousness of the prison system. The article also concentrates on how the prison experience is both similar and different in Canada and India.