Fragmented Childhood and the Psychology of Absence: Trauma, Narrative Memory, and the Urban Subaltern Mind in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Sankaranarayan M.

II M. A. English Literature, V. O. Chidambaram College, Tuticorin.

Abstract

This paper examines the psychological landscape of urban marginality in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Linethrough the lens of trauma theory, narrative psychology, and cognitive literary studies. The novel presents the story of missing children in a Delhi slum, narrated by Jai, a nine-year-old boy whose imagination is shaped by crime television and urban myth. This study argues that the text constructs a fragmented narrative space where childhood innocence intersects with systemic violence, poverty, and state neglect. Drawing upon trauma theory and narrative identity frameworks, the paper explores how absence becomes a structuring principle of both psyche and narrative. Jai’s perception does not merely recount events; it reconstructs reality through imaginative compensation. The novel exposes how marginalized communities internalize fear, grief, andhelplessness. Furthermore, the research highlights how narrative voice becomes a site of psychological resistance. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that the novel transforms individual trauma into a collective urban memory, revealing the deep interconnection between psyche, narrative fragmentation, and socio-political erasure.

Keywords: Trauma, Narrative identity, Urban marginality, Childhood psyche, Collective memory.