Voicing the unspoken and the unspeakable: linguistic representation of personal trauma through a child narrator in <i>The Discomfort of Evening</i>

Abstract This study examines the linguistic representation of childhood trauma in Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening (2020) through a child narrator’s perspective. Unlike research on the impact of national or historical trauma on individuals, this analysis focuses on personal trauma, exploring how personal childhood trauma is constructed in the child narrator’s voice. Using cognitive stylistic analysis, mind style theory, and trauma studies, the research investigates connections between linguistic patterns, cognitive processes, and trauma manifestation. This interdisciplinary approach reveals psychological intricacies overlooked by thematic analysis. Close textual analysis demonstrates how linguistic structures such as intense sensory imagery and temporal collapse – known childhood trauma features – represent and illuminate the character’s deteriorating mental state. Contributing to child trauma narrative studies in contemporary fiction, this study explores the complex relationship between language, trauma, and psychological development in representing the psychological impact of childhood trauma. The findings also offer insights relevant to narrative-based therapies and cross-cultural comparisons of trauma expression, demonstrating how literary analysis can inform both theoretical understanding and practical applications in clinical contexts.