ARCHETYPES OF WAR AND TRAUMA IN AFGHAN COLLECTIVE MEMORY: A JUNGIAN PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY OF THE PATIENCE STONE BY ATIQ RAHIMI

Abstract

Decades of war has shaped the cultural and psychological landscape of Afghanistan, leaving enduring imprints in the collective memory of its people. This paper examines the psychological fragmentation and war-induced collective trauma in the novel The Patience Stone (2010) by Atiq Rahimi through theoretical framework of Carl, Gastuv Jung’s (1959) concept of the collective unconscious, particularly the archetype of the Shadow. The study aims to explore how Rahimi’s (2010) novel symbolically depicts the long buried memories, silence and psychic fragmentation produced by war turmoil and strict cultural norms in Afghan society.

 The paper, by using a qualitative textual and close reading of the novel, demonstrates how the protagonist’s monologues to her paralyzed husband function as a symbolic release of the culturally suppressed experiences embedded in the Afghan collective memory. Through the concept of the shadow, the study interprets the woman’s revelations as manifestations of repressed psychological contents under patriarchal system. Moreover, it reflects how the prolong violence contribute to fragmentation of identity and the suppression of feminine agency within the collective unconscious. By situating the novel within the historical context of the country’s sustained conflicts, the paper reveals how literature functions as a tool through which collective suffering is symbolically expressed and confronted.