Trauma and the Self-fashioning of Identity: A Study of Neural Plasticity in Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You (2014)

Trauma is inevitably ubiquitous wherever there is human existence; its acceptance and denial deconstruct an individual’s identity at the same time. The study scrutinizes the intersection between trauma, neural plasticity, and self-fashioning in Celeste Ng’s novel Everything I Never Told You (2014). Lydia, the middle child, mysteriously dies in the 1970s and shatters the Lee family’s lives. The study delves into how traumatic experiences reshape the characters’ identities and perceptions through an integrated theoretical framework. The analysis based on the current neuropsychological theories argues how trauma-induced neural plasticity influences memory reconstruction and behavioral adaptation in the characters. The description of Marilyn and James Lee’s personal accounts, in conjunction with the repercussions on their children, signifies the transgenerational transmission of trauma. The study examines the complex nexus of trauma and women’s identity and situates the characters’ internal transformations with external societal gravities in a contradictory juncture. The research also advocates for how Ng’s narrative not only presents the negative effects of unprocessed trauma but also renders insights into the potential for plasticity and resilience through self-awareness and redefined relationships. The study broadens literary trauma studies by integrating the significance of neural plasticity and self-fashioning in comprehending the multilayered impacts of trauma on identity.