Analysis Of Trauma In Childhood Home, By Judith Herman

There are many different ways for a trauma to affect a person’s life. One of the most prominent means is through childhood experience. Adolescent and teenage years are both essential stages of development; when trauma disrupts this process, the mind and body can be effected more so than that of an adult who has never experienced trauma before. Greenwald’s “Childhood Handbook” provides multiple scenarios regarding the affects a trauma can bestow on a child. The novel “Trauma and Recovery,” by Judith Herman, goes into detail regarding the topic of captivity and how it can intensify the trauma one has endured for a period of time. We can demonstrate the idea of captivity, specifically the captivity of children, through a major current event that has been an issue for years—children of war. Most children of war are abducted at a very young age to be forcibly recruited as soldiers risking their lives as enemy shield. These children are tormented, abused, raped, and used for malicious personal gain. I am certain that it is their vulnerability as children that leaves them

It is to my belief that this disconnection forces them to feel neglected and isolated. I also believe that the disempowerment of a child forces them into being completely reliant on the perpetrator; which allows for easier manipulation. Herman’s novel supports the theory of manipulation into captivity. An example of this would be that terrorists abduct children and use factors such as, “terror, isolation, and enforced dependency” to manipulate them into being “willing victims” (Herman 83). The children become extremely dependent on the perpetrators, instinctively relying on their authority as adults. That is how they get them to willingly risk their lives as a children of