Children Under Fire: Witnessing and Narrating Wars in Selected Children’s Diaries

Abstract

This thesis has been divided into four chapters: the introduction, the theoretical framework chapter, and two chapters devoted to the analysis of specific diaries. The introduction has depicted the grave effects of war on children and how trauma has been associated with war. It has shown how testifying and narrating the horrors of such wars are means of surviving trauma. The introduction has also provided examples of different war diaries’ collections and a brief introduction to the four diaries under study: My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary (2006) written by Nadja Halilbegovich, Zlata’s Diary (2006) written by Zlata Filipovic, Iraqi Girl: Diary of a Teenage Girl (2009) in Iraq written by a child narrator under the pseudonym of Hadiya and Dear World: A Syrian Girl’s Story of War and Plea for Peace (2017) written by Bana Alabed. Chapter one has discussed the theoretical framework of the thesis and the main concepts used in the analysis. It has highlighted trauma theory and its definitions as explained by Cathy Caruth, Dori Laub, and Shoshana Felman; the chapter has also highlighted the definition of testimonial literature. The theoretical chapter has also depicted Philippe Lejeune's theories on diary writing and the different functions of diary writing. Diaries are tools that provide children narrators with a safe arena where they can have a voice and testify.