Traumas, silêncio e relações familiares em Pessoas Normais, de Sally Rooney

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the traumas, family relationships, and silences that profoundly mark the personalities of Marianne and Connell, protagonists of the novel Normal People, writ ten by the Irish author Sally Rooney. Marianne was beaten by her father as a child and witnessed him do the same to her mother. After the death of this abuser, the physical violence suffered by Marianne continues at the hands of her brother, Alan, while her mother remains silent amidst the situation. Connell, in turn, does not know his father and shows no desire to know who his progenitor is. Raised by his mother, he develops with her a relationship marked by friendship, distancing themselves from the traditional mother–son dynamic. We begin our analysis by iden tifying the traumas experienced by Marianne and how the presence of violence at home marked her life. We then show how Connell confronts a silent sadness that he is unable to explain on his own; therefore, we identify the moments when this feeling is demonstrated by the character until it reaches the point that triggers his depression. The aim is to understand how the charac ters' experiences at home are later reflected in their romantic and interpersonal relationships. To this end, our research is divided into three chapters. The first will focus on trauma and de pression. We examine the traumas experienced by Marianne, her relationship with violence, and Connell's depression, and how this impacted their lives in adolescence and adulthood. In the second chapter, we focus on the theme of silence. We provide a brief history of Ireland's relationship with silence to try to justify the problems both characters have with dialogue, both within the family and in their relationships with others. Finally, in the third chapter, the family is the focus. Marianne appears to have a comfortable life and a stable family, however, she is despised by her mother and suffered abuse from her father and, later, her brother. This chapter also addresses the relationship of the allegory "Mother Ireland" with Irish families and how this is reflected in the novel. As a theoretical framework, this research uses psychology and psycho analysis to underpin the analysis of family relationships, trauma, and depression. In this sense, the contributions of Donald Winnicott {1965} (2023) are essential to understanding the role of the family environment in the emotional development of the individual and the effects of the absence of sufficiently good care. John Bowlby (1982) in turn, offers insights from attachment theory, elucidating how early affective bonds influence identity formation and the response to psychological suffering. Furthermore, this study draws on the critical analyses of Rejane Fer reira (2014) and other scholars of Irish literature, who investigate the ways in which silence permeates both the history and the literary production of Ireland, and how it is re-signified in contemporary narratives by authors such as Sally Rooney.