Longing for home: Analyzing the trauma in Atiq Rahimi's Earth and Ashes and The Patience Stone

The current research paper deals with reference to the novels Earth and Ashes and The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi, which examines the trauma and suffering experienced by Afghans during and after the war. Despite being fiction, the characters in both novels experience both physical and mental suffering, which accurately captures life in a war zone. Every character wants to leave the conflicting situation because war makes the characters numb. All the major and supporting characters struggle with finding their identities. This paper aims to shed some light on the causes of war and its effects on people. There is a strong feeling of psychological distress evident in the novel as the characters struggle to cope with the loss of their loved ones after their deaths. The burden of oppression by marital, social, and religious norms is very well portrayed. The characters are in search for the true home both inside and outside as they lost their lives in their homeland. Their external search is for a better place to live a typical human life on Earth that is free of war and conflict, while their internal search is for their true selves and identities. The selected novels illustrate how war actually causes trauma for people who are forced to flee their homes and become refugees.