Trauma: A Trigger for Victims To Become Perpetrators in The Novel Confessions By Minato Kanae

Abstract

This research reveals the traumas that trigger victims from being traumatized to being traumatized perpetrators. Minato Kanae's Confessions tells how murderers deal with the trauma of what they have done, and what makes them want to kill. In this case, to deal with their trauma, the characters in the novel commit crimes that also trigger trauma for the victims. Thus, the perpetrator has his own trauma so that he commits the crime. The novel shows that the trauma a person faces is the cause of the deprivation that arises from losing something precious that must be fulfilled. To explore the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator in this study, the theory of Atonement initiated by Stephen Frosh is applied. The victim and perpetrator in this study are in a very biased position where the perpetrator can be the victim and the victim can also be the perpetrator. This shows that when experiencing loss, humans are traumatized and in this case, to fulfill the shortcomings they have, the trauma must be transformed into another form. However, the way of transforming trauma owned by the characters in this novel is the focal point of the discussion which is then explored with the theory of Loss and Absence initiated by Dominic La Capra. In this case, trauma, the causes of trauma, and the transformation of trauma owned and carried out by the characters in the novel are explored through the narratives provided by the novel. Thus, in analyzing the novel, this research uses the Close Reading method so that it can detect all the messages hidden by the narratives built in the novel. The results that emerge from the discussion in this study are that the perpetrator who must take responsibility for his crime must bear a new trauma, the crime of murder is a mistake that cannot be forgiven except with commensurate accountability, and the trauma that arouses the desire to kill.