The Challenges of Overcoming Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Toni Morrison’s Sula and Home

From a psychoanalytical perspective based on the works of Judith Herman, and on the basis of close reading, this paper explores the challenges and the possibilities to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder in Toni Morrison's Sula and Home. It exposes, on one hand, the obstacles African American veterans with chronic war-induced post-traumatic stress disorder face as they try to rebuild their shattered selves. On the other hand, it sheds light on the tools these damaged veterans resort to, in order to reconcile with their traumatic memories and come to terms with the haunting presence in their lives. Sula and home offer ground to discuss topics such as the healing of post-war trauma and the assistance provided to soldiers diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder while they raise questions about the provision of material and emotional support to war veterans in American society.