Racial Trauma In Facial Disillusionment

Social stigma related to those with facial deformities has been an ever recurring motif throughout the centuries. Even throughout the more progressive centuries, people still associate negative connotations with those who have facial disfigurements. This was especially the case after the Great War, and can be seen in the primary documents pertaining to the mutilated soldiers, and how society and even their loved ones rejected them. World War I brought a plethora of military advances, and as a result, created the first recorded incident of large-scale facial mutilation. This widespread medical crisis created the need for facial reconstruction surgeries. However, the medical advances at this time were by no means able to combat the amount of

First, I will need to familiarize myself with the social and psychological implications of appearance, focusing on facial disfigurement, and how this trauma can affect not only the individual’s psyche but also the way in which peers respond. Next, I will have to analyze sources about men obtaining masks in order to support my claim that they were used for the suppression of disillusionment, as well as a feeling of normalcy and social

For instance, “Class and Disillusionment in World War I” (1978), by Eric Leed, and Shattered Assumptions (1992), by Ronnie Janoff-Bulman both discuss disillusionment in two separate contexts, one in the context of the Great War and the other in the rehabilitation process. For instance, in Leed’s article, he deliberates how the progressive nature before the war was destroyed by its overwhelming brutality and lack of accomplishments. Which, as a result triggered a widespread feeling of disillusionment throughout Europe, as well as the after war contempt for any reminder of the Great War. Therefore, this work addresses the disillusionment that occurred as a result of World War One and answers the questions to what extent and why disillusionment occurred. However, the piece fails to tie this feeling of disillusionment into the social rehabilitation of soldiers, as well as discuss the psychological effects of disillusionment. Next, Janoff-Bulman’s piece claims that trauma, especially trauma concerning physical mutilation, can often cause a sense of disillusionment and resentment within an individual. It also goes on to explain that disillusionment, especially when afflicted by other people, can lead to an overall negative assumption of the magnanimity of society, as well as a lowered feeling