Iraqi Jews and the Farhud: Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper

In The Tobacco Keeper, Ali Bader delves into the harrowing experiences of Iraqi Jews during the Farhud, a violent pogrom that took place in Baghdad in 1941. The story not only chronicles the immediate physical and emotional toll of the violence but also examines the long-lasting psychological effects that such an experience has on the Jewish community in Iraq. The aim of this article is to examine the literary representation of psychic trauma which is provoked by exposure to a traumatic event in Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper and explore the post-traumatic stress disorders that the traumatized character suffers. The article, through close reading of the novel, attempts to trace and elucidate the myriad emotional, behavioral and psychological predicaments that the protagonist exhibits and experiences after being exposed to the Farhud. The study deploys trauma theory and post-traumatic stress disorders theory to examine the protagonist’s altered perception of reality and the self and the mechanisms he employs to cope with the traumatic event and the extent to which he is able to overcome the impacts of those traumatic experiences.