Holding and unholding the wound: Trauma and the feminine ethics of endurance in Brick Lane

In contemporary times, migration extends beyond its literal meaning of a change in location. It becomes a source of gender discrimination where the experiences of men and those of women differ significantly. Women endure not just the trauma of displacement but also resentment from a restrictive community abroad. This paper investigates Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003) as a literary record showing the ways in which trauma is inflicted upon migrant women and how they ultimately come out of its shackles. Drawing on trauma theory and feminist scholarship, this paper probes the insidious nature of trauma that consumes Nazneen, the protagonist of the novel. The analysis extends the discussion by showing how communal judgement and enforced domesticity fracture migrant women’s identity. It traces how trauma manifests through cognitive processes like dreams and somatic experiences like a sudden collapse. Ultimately, the paper argues for a redemptive arc by discussing how Brick Lane portrays migrant women not as passive victims, but as resilient figures who achieve autonomy and healing through acts of resistance.