The Weight of the Past: A Psychoanalytical Exploration of Trauma and Guilt in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Tomorrow is too Far"

Abstract

Adichie’s “Tomorrow Is Too Far” portrays the psychological effects of childhood trauma on the personality of an individual. The story depicts the psychological effects of trauma on the protagonist, who accidentally became the reason for her brother’s death. Several research studies are available, critically analysing Adichie’s “Tomorrow Is Too Far” but inadequate research is available highlighting the narrator’s psychological trauma and its implications. The psychoanalytical approach to this text will explore the narrator’s inner conflict, which includes guilt, repression, and self-loathing. Using a qualitative method, the study will explore and identify the elements of the narrator’s psyche that influenced her actions and perceptions of the world through the application of Freudian theory of psychoanalysis. The research explains the effect of trauma of childhood in an individual’s life and how people deal with it through discussing aspects like defence mechanisms. The narrator’s psychological state has been analysed by Freud’s concept of id, ego, and superego. The study finds that the guilt of narrator is a kind of self-punishment brought on by herself. The unresolved inner conflict of the narrator, because of her suppressed feelings and longings for blood relations, shapes her identity and isolates her from society.