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Abstract
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Cathy Caruth was among the first critics who introduced psychological trauma to literary
studies. In her book Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History she defines
trauma as a wound inflicted upon the mind, sourcing from a “not locatable violent or original
event in an individual past.” This event is not recognized immediately; it rather “returns to
haunt the survivor later on” (4). This event can affect an entire society causing collective
trauma. In this thesis, I will define Caruthian concepts of double wound, latency, dissociation,
and awakening in Morrison’s novels Beloved, A Mercy, and Sula. Moreover, by using
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I want to spot the stages in which each character’s need is
unmet concluding self-actualization and problem solving in Toni Morrison’s novels.
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