Trauma, identity, Female, Elaine, Offred, Atwood

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the representation of trauma and its effectson the identity formation of the female protagonists in Cat’s Eye and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. These novels have many similar anddifferent characteristics in terms of representation of trauma, identity formation andthe methods which are used to work through them.In the theory chapter, a brief introduction of psychoanalysis is presented. Adetailed analysis of trauma theory, witnessing trauma, working through trauma andrepresentation of trauma in narratives related to trauma are explained in this chapteras well. Formation of identity and female identity are also discussed in this chapter.The analytical chapters discuss Cat’s Eye and The Handmaid’s Tale in terms of the protagonists’ traumatic experiences and its reasons, witnessing their traumas in orderto work through them and their suffering of an identity crisis concerning theirexperiences.The conclusion proves that the social and political factors cause traumaticneurosis in both of the female protagonists. The similarities and differences betweenthe representation of trauma and witnessing it in the novels and the identityformation of the protagonists are presented in this chapter as well.