FEDERAL URDU UNIVERSITY OF ARTS, SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY

NAME : SANIA NAWAZ

FATHER NAME : HAQ NAWAZ

ROLL NO : 13052166

PROGRAM : BS

SEMESTER : VIII

DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH LITERATURE

COURSE : LITERARY CRITICISM II

COURSE HEAD : MA’AM YUMNA KHATOON

S. Index Page
No No

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1. Introduction to Colonialism 3

2. Introduction to Post Colonialism 3

3. Postcolonial Trauma Theory 3

4. Trauma 3

5. Psychological Trauma Theory 4

6. Theory of Orientalism 4-5

7. Novel: The Fault In Our Stars 5-6

8. Novel and The Psychological Trauma 6-8

Theory

9. Novel and The Theory of Orientalism 8-9

10. Conclusion 9

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 ASSIGNMENT NO 1
APPLY ANY POST COLONIAL THEORY ON THE NOVEL:
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
INTRODUCTION TO COLONIALISM:
Colonialism is when one country violently invades and takes control of another country.
Claim the land as its own and send people “settlers” to live on that. The term colonialism
refers to an era when one particular group of people came to a foreign land to conquer land in
order to exploit the resources from that. This particular historical event happened mainly in
the early modern era, namely the 15th century. It started when the western people tried to
discover the new land. The doctrine of discovery is problematic in the first place because the
primarily people mainly inhabited the land where the western conqueror claimed to be
discovered by them. This event created the new era of world history because practically
almost every part of the world has been colonized by western nations such as England,
France, Portuguese, and Spain. The colonizers gained and maintained their colonization
through military power and indoctrination of their colonial ideologies.
POST COLONIALISM:
Post colonialism is a period when the values of colonialism still exist, although it has been
combined with the indigenous (native). What are the values of colonialism that are left
behind? We can say those are languages, style of clothes and beliefs. We also can see many
colonized countries experience post colonialism. For an example, in 1947, British people left
India but somehow their values still exist now like the importance of English language.
POST COLONIAL TRAUMA THEORY:
Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist and philosopher, contributed significantly to understanding the
psychology of oppression and colonialism, particularly in his influential works like "Black
Skin, White Masks" and "The Wretched of the Earth." His theories revolve around the
psychological impact of colonization, racism, and the struggle for liberation.
Post-colonial trauma theory focuses on the psychological, emotional and cultural impact of
colonization on both individual and societies. It explores how the legacy of colonization,
including the suppression of indigenous cultures, exploitation, violence and the imposition of
foreign systems, continues to affect the identities, relationships and wellbeing of individuals
and communities in formerly colonized region. The theory emphasize the intergenerational
transmission of trauma and seeks to understand how historical injustices shape present day
realities and contribute to ongoing social and psychological challenges.
TRAUMA:
Trauma is a condition that is caused by the bad incident in the past. The incident could be an
accident, violence, rape, verbal abuse or bullying. Trauma could be wounding someone’s
mentally and physically.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA THEORY:
This theory rooted in psychology, examines the impact of traumatic experiences on
individual’s mental health, encompassing aspects like PTSD, anxiety and depression trauma
theory in his work.
Psychological trauma is one of the traumas that is caused by extreme stress. Psychological
trauma happens when someone could not overcome his fear and he may be so stressed and
depressed. The patient may end up his life because he is very afraid to experience the same
incident like in the past.
Long term traumatic condition is usually called Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Firstly
Post traumatic stress disorder was found in 1970sto cure the soldiers after the war. The
psychologist found many soldiers suffer trauma because they often see;
“Suicide attacks, sexual assaults or severe sexual harassment, physical assault, serving
in medical units, killing or injuring someone, seeing someone killed, injured or tortured
and being taken hostage”
Post-traumatic stress disorder is not only suffered by the soldiers who are back from war but
also common people, such as rape victims, murderer witness and so on. Post-traumatic stress
disorder suffer some symptoms like hallucination, feeling wrong, hard to sleep and so on.
SYMPTOMS OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER:
 Re-experiencing: Intrusive recollections of a traumatic event, often through
flashbacks or nightmares.
 Avoidance or numbing: Efforts to avoid any thing associated with the trauma and
numbing of emotion.
 Hyper arousal: Often manifested by difficulty is sleeping and concentrating and by
irritability.
 Avoidance: Negative feelings about yourself or other people.
 Changes in emotional reaction: Always being on guard for danger.
THEORY OF ORIENTALISM:
Orientalism by Edward Said is written in 1978 to highlight the interaction between east and
west. Orientalism is used as a tool, a political purpose and policy to represent social tracks
between societies. Edward Said’s define orientalism as a way of western domination over
east. The term orient means east and the term occident means west. A central idea of
Orientalism is that western knowledge about the east is not generated from facts or reality but
from preconceived archetypes that envision all eastern societies as fundamentally similar to
one another, and fundamentally dissimilar to western society. Said argued that orient and
occident worked as oppositional terms, so that the orient was constructed as a negative
inversion of western culture.
Orientalism explores how the Western world has represented Middle Eastern culture and
society in their academic study, art, and literature. Said argued that in Western depictions of
the East there is a;

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 Subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arab Islamic peoples and their
culture.
Said gave the term orientalism to the Western portrayals and perceptions of the Middle East.
Defining orientalism as;

A style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made

between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident.
Ontological relates to a branch of philosophy known as ontology that studies the nature of
human kind and their existence in society.
Epistemological relates to a branch of philosophy that explores the concept of knowledge,
and how we use knowledge to perceive reality.
Orientalism in academic circles is a term used for Western beliefs and teachings on
the orient. An orientalist, is a person who studies the orient.
In his examination of Western depictions of this Middle East, Said highlights how literature,
and writing, influence the politics of culture, language, and power. The interaction between
power and knowledge in the context of Orientalism led Said to describe this concept as a
'discourse'.

In Orientalism Said argued that through representations, or misrepresentations, of the Middle

East in literature and art, the West justified its imperial policies. Therefore, the root of the
misrepresentation of the Middle East in Western academics was the colonial ambitions of
Europe and the U.S.A. The false, romanticized images of the Middle East in Western
academics, presented the colonial subaltern as in need of being 'cared for' by a paternal,
colonial body, as they were unable to think, or speak, for themselves. Subaltern is a term
from postcolonial studies which refers to colonial populations ruled and controlled by an
imperial body.

THE NOVEL “THE FAULT IN OUR STARS”

The Fault in our Stars is a novel by John Green. It was published on January 10, 2012. The
story is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with thyroid cancer that has
affected her lungs. Hazel is forced by her parents to attend a support group where she
subsequently meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters. An American feature
film adaptation of the same name as novel directed by Josh Boone and released on June 6,
2014.
Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs, attends
a cancer patient support group at her mother's behest. At one meeting, Hazel meets a 17-year-
old boy currently in remission named Augustus Waters, whose osteosarcoma caused him to
lose his right leg. Augustus is at the meeting to support Isaac, his friend who has eye cancer.
Hazel and Augustus strike a bond immediately and agree to read each other's favorite novels.
Augustus gives Hazel “The Price of Dawn”, and Hazel recommends “An Imperial
Affliction”, a novel about a cancer stricken girl named Anna that parallels Hazel's own

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experience. After Augustus finishes reading her book, he is frustrated upon learning that the
novel ends abruptly without a conclusion. Hazel explains the novel's author, Peter van
Houten, retreated to Amsterdam following the novel's publication and has not been heard
from since. A week later, Augustus reveals to Hazel that he has tracked down Van Houten's
assistant, Lidewij, and, through her, has managed to start an e-mail correspondence with Van
Houten. The two met with the author. Upon meeting Van Houten, Hazel and Augustus are
shocked to discover that he is a mean-spirited alcoholic. Horrified by Van Houten's hostile
behavior towards the teenagers, Lidewij confesses to having arranged the meeting on his
behalf. Lidewij resigns as Van Houten's assistant and takes Hazel and Augustus to the Anne
Frank House, where Augustus and Hazel share their first kiss.
The next day, Augustus reveals that his cancer has returned fearing his death, Augustus
invites Isaac and Hazel to his pre-funeral, where they give eulogies. Augustus dies soon after,
leaving Hazel heartbroken. Van Houten shows up at Augustus's funeral to apologize to Hazel,
but Hazel does not forgive him. Hazel learns that Augustus had written an obituary for her,
and reads it after Lidewij discovers it amidst Van Houten's letters. It states that getting hurt in
this world is unavoidable, but we do get to choose whom we allow to hurt us, and that he is
happy with his choice, and hopes she likes hers too. The book closes with Hazel stating that
she is happy with her choice.
NOVEL AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY:
The main characters of the story, where Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters being
the prominent ones, are different from other young people of their age in the fact that while
others deal with temporary emotions, desires and lifestyles, the protagonists of ‘The Fault in
our Stars’
‘Deals with issues of death and what happens to those who loves us after our death’.
These questions are raised by them or remembered by them on a daily basis and every
decision the characters take is an aftermath or consequence of their specific thought process
which in this case is death. The thinking illustrate their psychological trauma of death.
In the novel The Fault in our Stars, I analyze the three main events of human life that is
trauma, grief, and death. The whole story is built up on grief, throughout the story each and
every important character experience love, loss and grief which make each character both
aesthetically and morally deep and dynamic.
Trauma happens after effect of events. People are traumatized by after accident remembering
past events makes them more traumas. So trauma can’t express and represent that one’s
feeling. In this novels Hazel is saying to Augustus about after all we are dead no one is left
for remembering human existed or did anything. In this universe no human being is mortal so
earlier or delayed all we are dead. The protagonist character Hazel is traumatized by disease
cancer. She always thinks about her death. At this age, teenager make friends and go to
college but here Hazel has daily routine to visit hospital received chemo. She frequently
thinks about her death. Hazel recounts how her parents thoughts her to be dead three years
ago.

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 I had a surgery called radical neck dissection, which is about as pleasant as it sounds.
Then radiation. Then they tried some chemo for my lungs tumors. The tumors shrank
then are grown. By then, I was looking pretty dead- my hands and feet ballooned; my
skin cracked; my lips were perpetually blue. They’ve got this drug than makes you
can’t breathe, and I had a lot of it flowing into me through a PICC line and more than a
dozen other drugs beside.
They all are hopeless. She also thought that this is her last day. Everyone figured that she was
finished but her cancer doctor Maria managed to get some of the fluid out of her lungs and
thereafter the antibiotic they’d given her for the pneumonia kicked in. Hazel’s parents were
also psychologically traumatized.
The following lines illustrate about Peter Van Houten, writer of the novel An Imperial
Affliction which is the novel inside the novel. Peter Van Houten mentions that he had a dead
person in his family none other than his own daughter Anna. Early death of his child makes
him traumatized so he leaves his profession and becomes alcoholic, hazel says about him:
“I’m trying,” he said. “I’m trying, I swear.” It was around then that I realized Peter
Van Houten had a dead person in his family. I considered the honesty with which he
had written about cancer kids; the fact that he couldn’t speak to me in Amsterdam
except to ask if I’d dressed like her on purpose; his shiftiness around me and Augustus;
his aching question about the relationship between pain’s extremity and its value. He
sat back there drinking, an old man who’d been drunk for years. I thought of a statistic
I wish I didn’t know: Half of marriages end in the year after a child’s death. I looked
back at Peter Van Houten. I was driving down college and I pulled over behind a line of
parked cars and asked, “You had a kid who died?
One of the characters of Green’s, Peter wrote this novel remembering his daughter called
Anna, who died at the age of eight due to cancer. He was traumatized by the death of his
young child Anna. He is panic and he does not talk with other people and lockup himself
inside the room. Houten drinks from early morning to evening. When Augustus visits Peter
home, he is totally traumatized and does not want to talk about that novel. But later he comes
to attend Augustus funeral some relief by reading mail of Augustus who writes about
impossible death. He writes about the tragedy in the world knowing about the death of own.
In the process of acting out trauma, Peter repetitively memorizes his past event and wholly
trapped in the past.
The following line is said by hazel to her parents when she is angry with them. Here she is
traumatized by Augustus death. She is feeling bad too much hovering by their parents.
I was really pissed off for some reason. “I can’t eat, Mom. I can’t okay?” I tried to push
past her but she grabbed both my shoulder and said, “Hazel, you’re eating dinner. You
need to stay healthy. No! I shouted. I’m not eating dinner and I can’t stay healthy
because I’m not healthy. I am dying, Mom. I am going to die and leave you here alone
and you won’t be a mother anymore, and I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything about it,
okay?

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Hazel is feeling bad of her life because of death of Augustus. When she arrived home from
outside her mom said to her “Eat your dinner”. She said “You should stay healthy”. And she
angrily shouted and said she doesn’t want to eat her dinner. She doesn’t want to be healthy
because she is going to die in few months and leave their parents alone. Then she said to her
parents they don’t need to hover around her. Hazel is furious about her life so she doesn’t
want to like too much hovering of her parents. Hazel is showing traumatized by Augustus
death and as well as upcoming her death. According to Caruth,
‘The traumatic person repetitively thinking about his/her past events like as Hazel is
repetitively thinking about her death and feeling bad of her life.’
THE NOVEL AND THE THEORY OF ORIENTALISM:
Normalcy is social construct as per the desire and interest of the so called able bodied people.
No man in the world is similar to another nor are their experiences same. But some are
considered ‘normal’ and other as ‘disable’, somehow the situation relates the term
introduced by Edward Said that is ‘orient’ and ‘occident’. In the novel, Green critiques
against the social concept of normalcy by presenting his characters as normal and able as
other people in the society, who are in fact regarded by the society as ‘disable’ and different
from ‘normal’.
Hazel and Augustus too are presented as having international travel which is really
adventurous. Hazel says:
I could feel everybody watching us, wondering what was wrong with us, and whether it
would kill us, and how heroic my mom must be, and everything else. That was the worst
part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you
from other people. We were irreconcilably other, and never was it more obvious than
when the three of us walked through the empty plane.
In the above lines, the term “everybody” represents the society, that is surprised to see
disable people doing adventurous activities. Travelling just like the normal human beings and
enjoying it involving themselves into different activities like “watching the romantic
comedy”, these teens are presented not as the disable. They make their moments “funny” and
enjoy the time with cracking “jokes”. Green emphasizes the importance the characters see in
not letting their diagnosis be their identity through moments like Augustus’ interest in
knowing Hazel for more than just her cancer diagnosis:
“No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, weird fetishes, etc.
This allows the reader to see these teens for more than their diagnoses, predetermined fates,
and obstacles presented by their medical conditions, and thus make it believable that the
plotline of their story is not merely defined by cancer, but only affected.
The matter of ‘able’ and ‘disable’ also moves around the concept of construction of
normalcy. In the context of the novel, Hazel’s mother forcefully sends her to the Support
Group and when Hazel refuses to go there, she defines her as having depression. She is taken

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as abnormal by her own mother. But claiming her to be normal, Hazel has conversation to her
mother. She narrates:
Hazel: I refuse to attend Support Group.
Mom: One of the symptoms of depression is disinterest in activities.
Hazel: Please just let me watch America’s Next Top Model. It’s an activity.
Mom: Television is a passivity.
Hazel: Ugh, Mom, please.
Mom: Hazel, you’re a teenager. You’re not a little kid anymore. You need to make
friends, get out of the house, and live your life.
Hazel: If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to Support Group. Buy me a fake
ID so I can go to clubs, drink vodka, and take pot.
These lines from the text clearly show that normalcy is created by the society itself. It is a
social construct. Here, Hazel’s mother represents the society. It is not Hazel who thinks
herself weak and not suitable to be in the company of others but it is the society and social
ideology that forces her to think like this. Her friends including even her own mother take her
as a ‘disable’ and they all stigmatize her on the basis of it.
The themes in this novel are all expressed through the lives and experiences of teens with
cancer. Green examines and expresses his themes about life and death, illness, and fullness,
and unfairness of life by teens with cancer. Hazel and Augustus know that their life, upon
diagnosis, will not be long, whereas Isaac’s, upon the surgery that leaves him blind, should be
of normal length. This is depicted when Isaac recounts Augustus’s “good news” for him post
operation:
“You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that
you cannot even imagine yet!”
CONCLUSION:
In this novel The Fault in Our Stars the protagonist characters as well as their family member,
relative and society all are traumatized by diseases cancer. It is like one of the monster who
kills human beings. The characters’ parents are very supportive. They help their children to
fight against the diseases. Hazel’s mother left her job and always stay around her daughter.
She always takes care of her daughter. She goes anywhere along with her daughter. She
thought her daughter is clinical depression so she consulting her doctor and send her to attend
a weekly support group. Protagonist’s parents fulfilled her dream to visit Amsterdam instead
of her critical condition. Ultimately, "The Fault in Our Stars" offers a nuanced portrayal of
how trauma shapes individuals and their perspectives on life. It illustrates the resilience of the
human spirit and the profound capacity for love and hope, even in the midst of profound
psychological challenges. The novel reminds us that while trauma may leave scars, it doesn't
define one's entire life, and healing is possible through acceptance, resilience, and the power
of human connection.

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 ‘The marks humans leave are too often scars’
John Green

REFERENCES:

1. Andermahr, S. Decolonizing Trauma studies, 2016, Shu kun Lin, P.1-24

2. Dr. Singh, K. Post colonialism and Post modernism, 2017, journal of

contemporary studies. P.3-5.

3. Green, J. The fault in our stars, 2012, Penguin books.

4. Heidarizadeh, N. The significant role of trauma in literature and

psychoanalysis, 2014, Procedia social and behavioral science, P.791-72.

5. Niranjana, P,R. An attempt to depict grief in the fault in our stars, 2012,

P. 1-15.

6. Said, E. Orientalism, 1978, Pantheon book, P. 97-100.

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