Trauma, the Fragmented Psyche, and the Cycle of Repetition in Narratives of Maya Angelou

A Critical Study of Trauma, Memory, Dissociation, Repression, Maternal Abandonment, and Narrative Healing

Abstract

This paper examines trauma as a psychological wound that can affect memory, identity, behaviour, relationships, and the individual's sense of safety. It focuses particularly on childhood trauma, maternal abandonment, dissociation, repression, traumatic memory, repetition, sexual violence, and the struggle to return to a sense of wholeness. Drawing on the ideas of Revital Goodman, Sigmund Freud, Susan L. Bloom, Cathy Caruth, George Hartman, Sándor Ferenczi, Jay B. Frankel, and Kali Tal, the paper considers how traumatic experiences can remain active long after the original event has ended. It argues that childhood trauma is especially significant because it can shape the developing sense of self and influence how individuals respond to later experiences. Maternal care is considered an important source of security, while parental failure and abandonment can leave the child vulnerable to further trauma. The paper also examines dissociation as a protective response to overwhelming experiences and explores how repressed memories may return through repetition, flashbacks, behaviour, and storytelling. The idea of a Sisyphean cycle is used to describe the repeated struggle of the trauma survivor to escape the past while continually returning to it. Particular attention is given to sexual violence and the experiences of women, especially African American women, whose psychological wounds may be intensified by racial and social oppression. The paper concludes that trauma may fragment the psyche, but remembering, narrating, and confronting painful experiences can also become part of the movement towards healing and psychological reintegration.

Keywords: trauma, childhood trauma, maternal abandonment, dissociation, fragmented psyche, memory, repression, repetition, sexual violence, African American women, healing