ISSN 2656-9531
Fragmented Narrative Technique as A Depiction of Trauma in Alice Munro's Dimensions
Abstract
This study examines the use of narrative techniques in depicting trauma and fragmented memories in the short story "Dimensions" by Alice Munro. This research aims to reveal how the narrative structure of the short story reflects the traumatic experience of the protagonist, Doree, by using Gérard Genette's narrative theory (1980) as an analytical framework. This research uses the short story "Dimensions" as the material object and is studied with a descriptive qualitative approach. The analysis reveals that Munro employs several narrative techniques—ellipsis, focalization, and analepsis—to depict trauma. Ellipsis conveys the characters' inability to access or fully process certain aspects of their traumatic experiences. The shifting focalization between external and internal perspectives reflects the dissociation and fragmented sense of identity often associated with trauma. Meanwhile, analepsis illustrates how characters continue to relive their past traumas through persistent flashbacks. This research reveals that the narrative structure of "Dimensions" functions not only as a storytelling tool, but also as a direct representation of the characters' own traumatic experiences.
Keywords: Alice Munro, Trauma, Narrative Technique, Gérard Genette, Ellipsis, Focalization.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Caruth, Cathy (1995a) 'Trauma and Experience: Introduction', in Cathy Caruth (ed.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 3-12.
Duncan, I. (2011). Alice Munro's narrative art. Palgrave Macmillan.
Eakin, P. J. (1999). How our lives become stories: Making selves. Cornell University Press.
Genette, Gérard. (1980). Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. Translated by Jane E. Lewin, Cornell University Press.
Herman JL (1997) Trauma and recovery. Basic Books, New York, pp. 25-197.
Kaplan, E. A. (2005). Trauma culture: The politics of terror and loss in media and literature. Rutgers University Press.
Mayberry, K. J. (1994). Narrative strategies of liberation in Alice Munro. Studies in Canadian Literature/Études en Littérature Canadienne, 19(2). https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/8203/9260
Sabawaly, D. R., & Momo, L. L. (2024). An analysis of psychology characters in novel Bukan Pelajar Biasa by Shandy Tan. Journal of Language, Literature, and Teaching (JLLTE), 6(1), 77-83.
Whitehead, A. (2004). Trauma fiction. Edinburgh University Press.
Yang, Y. (2023). The trauma and fragmentation narrative in Amy Tan's the kitchen god's wife and Toni Morrison's beloved. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02046-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35529/jllte.v6i3.26-36
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dzikrika Rahmatu Hayati
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.