Representation of Trauma, Power, and Identity in “The Housemaid”: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper addresses the construction of trauma, power, and identity with regard to language in novel “The Housemaid” by  Freida McFadden. Using Fairclough’s three-dimensional system of CDA, the study explores how linguistic choices at the level of the text, interaction and sociocultural practice affect psychological meaning and interpersonal dynamics in narrative. Lines of text were extracted from the novel and analysed using “Emotion Trajectory Tool” software for patterns of affective and ideological orientation. The paper demonstrates how the antagonist, Nina Winchester, employs coercive and manipulative discourse which lies heavily on emotional expression to exert authority and render protagonist powerless. Millie, instead, evolves some resistant linguistic tactics towards self-assertion and recovery of personal agency. Trauma is linguistically represented in stuttered and fragmented structures, negations, hesitations and formulations of inner-conflict which are always borne from the fact that language indexes disruption of the psyche and recovery of emotion. The text when analyzed through the Emotion Trajectory Tool revealed the frequency more than 10 and sentiment polarity ranging between -0.25 and 0, revealing the negative aspect much higher than positive. The analysis reveals how contemporary narrative represents social power relations and psychological phenomena through discourse. The study contributes to the language and social life scholarship by demonstrating how trauma and power narratives are constructed, negotiated, and challenged through ordinary linguistic action.