INHERITED WOUNDS AND TRANSGENERATIONAL TRAUMA: ANALYZING MICHAELIDES’S THE SILENT PATIENT USING POSTMEMO­­­RY THEORY

Abstract

The Silent Patient is a psychological thriller novel written by Alex Michaelides. The story revolves around Alicia Berenson, a famous painter who is both a victim and a villain of the story. She shoots several times at her husband, Gabriel, and then stays silent. She never speaks again, even to defend herself. She refused to speak, and it became a mystery. Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, takes an interest in her silence and starts to treat her. The story is also narrated by Theo. As the novel progresses, her diary and paintings reveal Alicia's psychological and past experiences, which she had in her childhood. The novel reveals that silence is also a defense mechanism. The silent patient emphasizes that healing is only possible when we share our feelings with others. As the novel ends, it makes a twist that Theo himself is deeply connected to Alicia's crime. This research focuses on how silence is a result of inherited trauma, and shows how art is an expression of thoughts and how the rejection in childhood makes the villainous psyches. Other researchers focus on crime stories or a feminist perspective, but this research focuses on Marianne Hirsch's postmemory theory, which states that trauma is transferred from one generation to the next and also affects those who never experienced it directly.