Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Ph.D. Candidate of English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2
Assistant Professor of English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3
Assistant Professor of English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, Sa.C., Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj,Iran.
10.22091/slic.2026.14696.1019
Abstract
Trauma is a central theme in Persian diaspora literature. While its psychological, cultural, and historical dimensions are well-studied, the intimate mechanisms of its intergenerational transmission remain less explored. This study argues that Khakpour’s Sons and Other Flammable Objects treats trauma as an active process of generational transfer, moving beyond viewing trauma as a mere inheritance. The research aims to answer two questions: Through what specific narrative mechanisms does the novel dramatize the process of trauma transmission? And how does it conceptualize the possibility of healing or resistance for the second generation? This analysis uses an integrated framework drawing on Cathy Caruth’s concepts of the unspeakable and belated trauma, Jeffrey Alexander’s cultural trauma theory, and Michelle Balaev’s narrative agency. The analysis identifies three core mechanisms of traumatic transmission: a patriarchal lexicon that enforces silence, the weaponization of cultural dislocation within the home to fracture identity, and a pedagogical narration of history that inscribes a legacy of decline into the next generation's sense of self. Findings reveal that healing from this legacy is not achieved through reconciliation with the traumatic narrative but requires its active combustion. The protagonist’s ultimate act of narrative agency—rejecting his father’s deterministic sentences and authoring a new, relational lexicon—demonstrates that breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma hinges on the second generation’s courage to dismantle the authority of the painful past and self-author a future.
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