Literature, Trauma and Fantasy: Constructing a Psychological Hierarchy of Suffering

This study explores how contemporary literature constructs a psychological hierarchy of suffering by positioning major trauma as more significant than minor emotional discomfort. Experiences such as war, systemic violence, political oppression, displacement, and terminal illness are frequently represented as psychologically overwhelming and narratively central, whereas everyday emotional states like loneliness, insecurity, jealousy, romantic confusion, and social anxiety are often softened through imagination, fantasy, or emotional distancing. Through a comparative analysis of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, together with broader developments in contemporary literary writing, this research argues that literature does not simply mirror suffering but actively organizes it into levels of seriousness and legitimacy.

Drawing on trauma theory and psychological understandings of imagination as a coping mechanism, the paper demonstrates that fantasy primarily operates as a strategy

for managing minor emotional discomfort, while trauma resists containment and

demands confrontation, acknowledgement, and meaning-making (Caruth 4; Herman 1). Ultimately, the study reveals that literary narratives shape cultural perception by ranking certain forms of suffering as morally central while rendering others emotionally negotiable.

 

 

Keywords: Trauma, Fantasy, Minor Emotional Discomfort, Hierarchy of Suffering, Psychological Coping, Contemporary Literature, Narrative Representation, Literary Psychology.

Trauma Fantasy Minor Emotional Discomfort Hierarchy of Suffering Psychological Coping Contemporary Literature Narrative Representation Literary Psychology.