Terrorism abandoned the Families in “Sea Prayer” ; A

traumatic study of sea prayer

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL
SUBMITTED BY
Namra Ijaz khan
REGISTRATION NO;
BSELC011730034

In the partial Fulfilment for the Award of B.S in

English Literature
Supervisor Name: Ayesha Muzaffar
Department of English Language and Literature
Faculty of Languages and Literature
THE UNIVERSITY OF LAHORE
 Abstract

This research explores the theory of trauma. This book is written by Khaled Hosseini. This study

is purposed to give a contribution to the large body of knowledge particularly in existentialism

perspective in literary work .The result of the study is expected to broaden the researcher

knowledge and experience in literary work practical in understanding of this novel this study is

also can be used for reference for others researcher who interest to conduct a research about this

novel or depression issue It is intensely moving and powerfully evocative of the plight in which

displaced refugees find themselves. It is also a poignant reminder of hundreds of Gazans who

lost their lives in the sea, (2014) seeking a better future for their children.
Topic: Terrorism abandoned the Families in “Sea Prayer”; A traumatic study of sea prayer

Theory: Trauma Theory

1. Introduction

Background study

The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of

political aims."Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general

public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance

unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic,

religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."

Trauma theory denotes a vibrant, interdisciplinary area of Western scholarship developed since

the 1980s through cross-fertilization between psychology and the humanities. A large number of

the significant texts in this area of trauma theory have referred directly to the Holocaust of World

War II.Trauma theory is concerned with how the traumatic experiences of authors has affected

their literary works. It can also be concerned with the representation of traumatic experiences.

Remember Freud, who wrote that childhood traumas were the source of most neuroses and

psychoses.

Khalid Husseini is an Afghan-American novelist and physician. After graduating from college,

he worked as a doctor in California, a predicament that he likened to "an arranged marriage “In

March 2001, while practicing medicine, Husseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner,
which was published by Riverhead Books in 2003. That debut went on to launch one of the

biggest literary careers of our time. Today, Khaled Hosseini is one of the most recognized and

bestselling authors in the world. His books, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and

And the Mountains Echoed, have been published in over seventy countries and sold more than

40 million copies worldwide. In 2006 Khaled was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Sea Prayer is an illustrated novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini inspired by the

thee Syrian refugee crisis and the death of Alan Kurdi. It was first created as a virtual reality

experience in 2017, and was published as a book in 2018 by Riverhead Books, illustrated in

watercolour by Dan Williams

A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to

the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son,

on the eve of their journey. Watching over his sleeping son, the father reflects on the dangerous

sea-crossing that lies before them. It is also a vivid portrait of their life in Homs, Syria, before

the war, and of that city’s swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone.

Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old

Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to

pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi’s, who have been splintered and forced from

home by war and persecution, and he will donate author proceeds from this book to the UNHCR

(the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief

efforts to help refugees around the globe.

1.2 Statement of problem

The purpose of this research is narrative uses a story based on recent real-world events as a

means of exploring how dynamics of peace and war can manifest in modern contexts. The story

is specifically set in Syria and examines the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.

1.3 Objectives of study:

 To explore the love and affiliation of family in sea prayer.

 To explore the effect of terrorism in sea prayer.

 To analyze the worth and life of refugees in sea prayer.

1.4Research Question

How and why does Khalid husseini discuss the love and relation of father and son in Sea Prayer.

Why does Khalid Husseini describe that how terrorism abounded the families in Sea Prayer.

How Khalid Husseini describes that refugees are supposed and forced to live in Sea Prayer.

1.5 Significance of the Research

This study is expected giving some special practical and theoretical study benefits.

This study is purposed to give a contribution to the large body of knowledge particularly in

existentialism perspective in literary work .The result of the study is expected to broaden the

researcher knowledge and experience in literary work practical in understanding of this novel

this study is also can be used for reference for others researcher who interest to conduct a

research about this novel or depression issue

1.6 Research frame work

The literary trauma theory articulated by Kali Tal, and critics such as Cathy Caruth, considers the

responses totraumatic experience, including. cognitive chaos and the possible division of

consciousness, as an inherent characteristic of traumaticexperience and memory.

In Unclaimed Experience, Cathy Caruth proposes that in the widespread and bewildering

experience of trauma in our century both in its occurrence and in our attempt to understand it can

recognize the possibility of a history no longer based on simple models of straightforward

experience and reference. Through the notion of trauma, she contends, we come to a new

understanding that permits history to arise where immediate understanding may not.

Caruth explores the ways in which the texts of psychoanalysis, literature, and literary theory both

speak about and speak through the profound story of traumatic experience. Rather than

straightforwardly describing actual case studies of trauma survivors, or attempting to elucidate

directly the psychiatry of trauma, she examines the complex ways that knowing and not knowing

are entangled in the language of trauma and in the stories associated with it. Caruth’s wide-

ranging discussion touches on Freud’s theory of trauma as outlined in Mose and

Monotheism and Beyond the Pleasure Principle. 

1.7 Literature Review

Trauma theory is concerned with how the traumatic experiences of authors have affected

their literary works. It can also be concerned with the representation of traumatic experiences.

Remember Freud, who wrote that childhood traumas were the source of most neuroses and

psychoses. This theory is implied on many literary books. There is a traditional narrative about

trauma in books and films. In books like EDEN, Beloved, THE SMALL BACK OF
CHILDREN, AN UNTAMED STATE, THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, THE YEAR OF THE

BEASTS.

In Sea Prayer else then traumatic study the postcolonial study, stylistic study, post structural,

structuralist and Jungian studies are also involved.

1.8 Research methodology

Research Design

This research is qualitative research and its is argumentative .

Source of the study

The primary source of this research is Khalid Hosseni’s novel Sea Prayer. The theory of Cathy

caurth’s, the trauma theory is used as secondary source of this present research along with this

various significant works are also utilized.

Research tools

The characters of the primary text are used as tools of this research. Mainly the Father who wrote

this latter to his Son and one is the Syrian refugee who is the inspiration of this novel. The story

is narrated in the first person by the unnamed narrator. The narration is addressed to the

narrator’s son. The narration uses past tense when referring to events that took place prior to the

family’s departure from Homs and it uses present tense when referring to post-departure events.

The narrator is a grown man who was born and raised in Syria. He is married and has a young

son. The story begins in a retrospective mode, with the narrator reflecting upon past memories.

In one respect, these retrospections are designed to emphasize the tragic division in perspective

between the narrator and his son, as caused by the war. The narrator notes that his childhood
memories are dominated by pleasant, peaceful memories, whereas Marwan’s childhood

memories are dominated by war and violence.

1.9 Delimitation of the study

Hosseini tackles issues of terrorism, political showboating and jihad recruitment and love for

family. Due to delimitation of the word limit, time and degree requirements this piece focuses on

issues of immigration and terrorism.

1.10 Chapterization

It consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 is from pages 1-14 in this the narrator recalls when his

son was a todller,chapter 2 is from pages 15-32 in this narrator mentions how life in the city

now often consists of and chapter 3 is from 33-43 in this the narrator feels powerless to

protect his son.

Work Cited

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-sea-prayer/chapanal003.html#gsc.tab=0

https://www.quora.com/What-is-trauma-theory-in-English-literature

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2F9781137365941.pdf