Trauma and Nightmare: Exploring the Impact of War on Refugee Children of Syria through Select Novels

Arab Spring, spreading through Middle East and North Africa, reached Syria early 2011. It projected a threat on the authoritarian regime of Bashar Al-Assad. To subside the pro-democratic protests, Assad sent Syrian Army in cities where major protests were going on. The Syrian Army killed and tortured whoever they suspected of being involved in the protests without any trial. This led to a major discontent in the Syrian people and the violence between the Syrian Army and protesters of pro-democratic group turned into an ugly Civil War in Syria. The war has resulted in disastrous outcomes. Massacres have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and both ancient and contemporary cities have been reduced to rubble. There has been a significant loss in terms of property damage and human deaths. A huge influx of refugees has resulted from the war. The conflict has driven millions of Syrians from their homes. This research paper will be dealing with the different dimensions and hindrances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) which the common people, struck in war zones have faced since 2011. The focus will be on how violence, separation and grief impacted the refugee children of war-torn Syria and in what ways these refugee children cope with the traumatic situations of war zones, through detailed study and analysis of two novels, (i) Melissa Fleming's A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival, and (ii) Nujeen Mustafa's biography, The Girl from Aleppo.