TRAUMATIC MANIFESTATIONS IN KAINE AGARY’S YELLOW-YELLOW AND HELON HABILA’S OIL ON WATER

ABSTRACT

Since the discovery of crude oil in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in 1957, exploration of oil has resulted to degradation related issues such as gas flaring, oil spillage and indiscriminate disposal of industrial effluents. The current crisis of environmental pollution has gripped the attention and aroused the concerns of many alive today. The purpose of the essay is to examine the extent of psychological damage the degraded environment has brought upon the selected characters in Kaine Agary’s Yellow-Yellow and Helon Habila’s Oil on Water, revealing grief, nostalgia and aggression as traumatic manifestations. The essay asserts that anticipatory and acute grief in the forms of hopelessness, helplessness, fear, guilt and anger brings about trauma in the characters. Also a comparison between the present and the past produces nostalgia in the characters, leading to lingering sadness and frustration which has been termed as traumatic. Furthermore, the essay explains the causative effect trauma has on aggression and the extent to which trauma triggers it leading to chaos. The essay adopts the approach of content based analysis based on the ecological and psychological excerpts culled from the texts with reference to trauma. The essay concludes that degradation threatens the peace of most characters in the texts and brings out new aspects in their personalities as a result of grief, nostalgia and aggression. From all indications, it is apparent that grief, nostalgia and aggression as a result of trauma are a test of true personality and it affects the society in general.