The Dark Underside of 9 / 11 in Ken Kalfus ' s A Disorder Peculiar to the Country ( 2007 ) by Eman Saud

The eventual attacks of 9/11in America, on The World Trade Center at Ground Zero, had changed the world and brought disastrous problems to a lot of civilians. Many people lost their lives; others were traumatized and suffered a disordered life. The disastrous event revealed the hidden aspects of the States and its assistants-the soldiers and copes. Studying the relationship between the psyche of individuals and their outside world is the core of this paper. The project investigates the reasons behind acting out trauma and its impact on individuals and society. The sociocultural approach applied helps in examining the behavior of the individuals through their reactions to the event of 9/11. Ken Kalfus's A Disorder Peculiar to the Country (2007), is analyzed according to the psychologist, Cathy Caruth's trauma theory and the sociologist, Kia Erikson's theory of cultural trauma. The novel deals with both kinds of trauma; psychic and cultural. It examines the behavior of the traumatized couple, Marshall and Joyce, lived a rather miserable and too hard and harsh life because of terrorism. They finally separate from each other uncaring about their two children Viola and Victor .


1.Introduction
The global 9/11 is a turning point in history. Terrorist attacks unexpectedly occurred in New York City, and alarmingly indicates new shell-shock that has formed the beginning of the twenty-first century. 'Wars on Terrors' turn the world into an arena of clashing and conflicting camps. Neither in the WWI nor WWII has the United States of America experienced or felt the imminent danger of attacks or threats. Yet, 9/11 puts the Americans in a situation that they never forget. Therefore, literature, as Animest Roy in "Green poems", argues "might prove to be a useful and potent tool" (Roy, 2014, 2). So writers managed to convey the real event to the reader through their literary products. Post 9/11 authors create characters as victims to the event. They create those characters as allegories to all people and make them suffer throughout their life. Their suffering is originally psychological. Hence, depending on trauma theory by the modernist American psychologist Cathy Caruth is of a great help to study trauma as a phenomenon that stands for the idea of the age. Since trauma is cultural, thus, depending on psychology is not sufficiant to understand and analyze the different aspects of the problem. So sociology may offer theories coexist with psychology and work for hand by hand. Thus, Kia Erikson, the modernist American sociologist announced his perspective about personal and communal trauma, which can be studied all together with the psychological trauma theory in order to give a full image about trauma caused by 9/11 and the chaos aftermaths marked as a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since trauma is a global phenomenon, it afflicts all people in society. Novelists "tell and retell the story of their traumatic experience" (Tal, 1996, 137). So writers about trauma and PTSD use their narratives as a means to translate the meaningless fragmentations into a meaningful language to illustrate the reality of life and how man suffers from the catastrophes that are happened during the modern era. Kalfus is an American modern author and a member of post 9/11domestic group of writers who pay more attention in their novels to family affairs and sexual relationships as ironic devices to criticize the States of America. The novel is a criticism to the political system within the time of terrorism represented in the Bush administration and mass media. Kalfus portrays the authority symbolized the Joyce and Marshall family there is no coherence, no well-built relationships. There is a kind of skepticism within the family affairs. So the fall or collapse is untimely expected. When the husband is busy, there will be betrayal by the wife, and the husband commits betrayal when the wife overlooks some minor mistakes. Thus, departure is the only solution for them. Caruth, in her trauma theory emphasizes that "trauma is born by an act of departure" (Caruth, 1995, 22). We could apply the same idea to the States; the news did not observe the attack seriously, and the authority was busy in glorifying victor regarding the firemen as heroes. At the same time, the States has forgotten those victims who died or injured because of the terrorist attacks and ignored the individual voices because they are not important enough.
In her "Review" (2006), Laura Miller, describes Kalfus as "an endlessly ingenious writer" that he deeply analyzes the psychic aspect of his characters in his post 9/11 novel, concluding that Kalfus has succeeded in portraying the real act of the event (Miller, 2006, 71). Kalfus, the American author and editor lived an unsettled life. He transformed from one place to another, thinking that travelling abroad giving an insight that stimulated him in writing. What helps and encourages him in writing is his bitter and hard experience in life. To him, writing is a healer to his psychological wounds. Kalfus wrote several novels, short stories, and essays published in international journals, among them The New York Times and The New York Review of Books. Kalfus is genius, skillful, and creative that his success in associating the political system with that of cultural adds a critical touch in his satire in the novel. His novel is seen as a "viable-way to engage in cultural and political critique" (Weber, 1973, 4). His best saying is that "the most thrilling thing in the world is when you have a vague thought and you manage to solidify it on paper" (Web. Interview). Kalfus is fond of the art of writing which gives him a relief and satisfaction. He pays great attention to what follows the trauma event not only the trauma moment. Kalfus is against Muslims and blames them for the attacks on America. However, he shows his sympathy to people in Iraq and Afghanistan against their hegemonic terrorist authorities which govern those innocents, justifying his enmity in a way in which he criticizes authorities but not population. (2007) is written as a parody against the bad circumstances post 9/11 attacks, reflecting the politics of the United States within the era of terrorism and aftermaths. It is described as if it is " neither threatening nor ultimately mysterious" (Lewis, 1989, 19). Kalfus exposes the disastrous event, which is social, concerning the protagonist characters which is personal. He succeeded in portraying the real event by creating real situations in which the protagonist couple is seen as a victim. Marshall and Joyce witnessed the event, and they are first-hand witnesses. They kept silent at first that they cannot express their condition, but after a while, they revolt against each other; they seek separation. Critics highly appreciate the novel because it is a criticism of the modern governments of America. According to Versluys, the novel is regarded "a great New Yorker novel" because the action takes place at Ground Zero, the spot where the attacks occurred, and written by an American author (Versluys, 2009, 68). The novel starts with a gloomy fearful dim atmosphere, set at a crucial moment when Joyce is about to travel, but the flight is called off because of the attack.

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country
Joyce suffers a double trauma-mental and psychological. She has lost the journey and does not know whether her husband is alive or not. She also worries about her kids at that moment. Marshall, the husband, is also a victim of the event. He lost news about his family and also lost his job that he was working at one of the towers at The World Trade Center. The couple seeks divorce and detachment because of the trauma caused by 9/11 to overcome their bad condition, without thinking of their two children and their assumptions about future. They think that they will find relief in divorce. Divorce is one type of trauma. There are many other types such as abuse, dissatisfaction, guilt, betrayal, disappointment, loss, etc., all lead the family to be broken up in the end with no justified reasons. The characters try to express their traumas but lack the proper way to explain the condition; they symbolize the frozen status of the States and the American ambiguity towards the attacks of 9/11 and aftermaths. Kalfus tries to inform the reader some facts from the past illustrating the historical life of the characters through the use of the stream of consciousness as a technique helps the reader understand what is in the mind of the character, his past life, and the most important reasons behind his/her current behavior.
Russian educator and psychologist, Lev Vygtsky, was the first to introduce the sociocultural theory at about the mid of the twentieth century. Psychologist, Lave Rogotti and James Wertsch, professor of sociocultural anthropology, have developed the theory (Steiner & Mahn, 1996,199). Vygtsky emphasized the idea that human "Mental abilities" are twice emerged; " first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level: First, between people, and then inside the learner" (1981,57). The approach is mostly used in psychology to examine the mental process as well as social behavior of the individuals determined by cultural and social circumstances, how the individual interacts and copes with others, and with his/her surroundings. Hence, the method becomes a matter of concern to many scholars and researchers in literature. Catherine A. Sanderson, in her book, Social Psychology, describes "people behavior" as "shaped in part by their social and/or cultural contact" (Sanderson, 2010,13). She focuses on the role of culture and society in shaping the individual's behavior and manner of living set by certain factors. Environmental surroundings, culture, and society, are of a great significance to the post 9/11 novelists who try to convey reality through literature. They manage to create a sense of sympathy within the reader, make him/her participate in the text, and give a background to the event. They did that through the link between what is in the character's mind and the outside world. The different responses of the individuals of the multi cultured-society, the clash of religion and civilization, the interaction of the characters with their environment are aspects to be examined through the sociocultural approach which is a modernist theory shows how experience makes people act. It is based on the idea that all types of behavior are acquired through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through the interaction with the surrounding, and people can recall and re-experience certain events as a result of complex cultural and social factors. From a non-literary point of view, the sociocultural approach is a branch derivative from psychology, referred to by post 9/11 writers to study the psychological aspect of the traumatized survivors with society, and it is, in fact, a general approach. Authors depict actual traumatic events and PTSD in their works, explaining the cause and effect of trauma on people and culture. They finally conclude that the psychological aspect is the major cause to the damage . Literarily, as the sociocultural literary theory examines the relationship between the text and culture; thus, it provides a framework for the analysis of the literary text, which is related to the social and cultural context. It looks at the stylistic style which depicts peoples' attitudes towards culture regardless the color and gender, or whether these attitudes are positive or not. Mostly, post 9/11 literature provides evidence of changing the personal behavior of the survivors into cultural conditioned by society.There are many approaches deal with the behavior of the traumatized individuals; psychological, geopolitical, cultural, and social; however, the sociocultural is the most common.
Sociologists, such as Jeffry Alexander, Neil Smesler, and Kia Erikson have borrowed trauma from psychologists; mainly Lacan and Freud. They revealed how trauma works as a response to a certain event. Recent theories deal with the role of "meaning making" by the groups in society and how every person of these groups can act (Smesler, 2001, 11). Kia Erikson, in his "Notes on Trauma and Community", defines "trauma" as "blow to the tissue of the mind" (Erikson, 1995, 25). He sees trauma as related to society, saying that "trauma can create community" (185). He studies the 9/11 event in relation to identity, states that trauma is a "sense of identity" (189) which represent a link between what can be perceived or recognized and what to experience after the incident affecting by some factors like political and cultural notions. Relatevily, in a study on individuals and community concerning the 9/11 event, Erikson concludes that 9/11 is a "rapture" (4). He, also states that trauma is a painful memory and the brain cannot perceive it fully and the response of the individual is to define that painful situation differently "it is how people react to them rather than what they are that gives events whatever traumatic quality they can be said to have" (184). Individuals cannot perceive the event at first but after a few days or months or even years they eventually re-experience it fully through flashbacks and nightmares. The term "trauma" is originally Greek. It is mostly psychological. It is rooted in the 1850s when doctors and physicians first dealt with trauma as a main cause to the abnormal reaction of train passengers when they witnessed an accident through their trip. They were wounded and their wounds are rather mental and the behavior is characterized by hysteria. When the physical wounds of casualty are healed, the negative effect remains, and this is the traumatic effect of the event . Psychologically, Sigmund Freud, through his practical studies, suggests that trauma is the second face to what is called "hysteria" and the symptoms of hysteria are firmly linked to a memorial event. According to one of his researches, mentioned in his book, Project for Scientific Psychology (1895), he concludes that actual trauma consists of two main stages: the earlier which appears during childhood, meaningless but has sexual contexts, the later appears in adulthood, which has no sexual contexts but sexual meaning (Freud, 1895, 120). Freud, thus, assumes that the dialectic relation between these two stages is the main cause of creating actual trauma.
The contemporary trauma theory emerged in the 1960s for social needs such as disasters, war violence, crimes of abuse and rape, and genocide. It is established with the publication of Cruth's Unclaimed Experience. She explains that the role of trauma is an act, and the response of the individuals is the opposite of this act. Her recent argument is that trauma is associated with the conditions of mind which are un-healable. Her trauma "resists simple comprehension" (Caruth, 1996, 6). In her literary criticism in "Trauma Exploration in Memory" (1995), Caruth asserts that "the person has experienced an event that is outside the range of human experience (1995,25). Caruth states that "trauma seems to be much more than pathology" (1995,4). She emphasized the past event of the traumatized individual in analyzing his/her present situation; focusing on the past is to appreciate "the way in which one's own trauma is tied up with the trauma of another, the way in which trauma may lead, therefore, to encounter with another through … listening to another's wound" (8). Accordingly, trauma which is created out of a sudden, can evidently generate gaps in mind, which afflict individuals at first and then society. These gaps are unhealable. Much research has been done about trauma and its effect on the casualty of Ground Zero, criticizing the political system in America post 9/11; however, some concern with 9/11 as psychologically researched. Trauma and PTSD have engaged theorists so much that they show their concerns in this respect. Ann Kaplan, for example, has dated trauma back to the industrial revolution. While Judith Herman claimed that traumatized persons have a conflict between hiding horrors and proclaiming aloud. Meanwhile, Kia Erikson, comments that the event of 9/11 is "a rapture of everything" (4). Trauma, according to him is a "painful memory", and the person cannot experience it fully, and the reaction of the individuals is to define that painful situation (184). In this , he agrees with Caruth in viewing the traumatic event and what follows and effects on people. Unlike Erikson, Smesler proclaims that the multi thoughts and theories about trauma and PTSD are mostly dealt with from the psychological view point, the main aspect of human nature. This paper attempts to discuss cultural and social notions as related to the psyche of the individuals. It, also focuses on personal trauma and how it is changed into cultural considering Cathy Caruth's and Kia Erikson's trauma notion. Kalfus's A Disorder Peculiar to the Country is the main focus. Modern studies of trauma and trauma theory prove that experiencing trauma events is common, especially in the modern age because it is full of wars and catastrophes. Individuals are expectedly exposing at least one traumatic situation over their lifetime because of natural and man-made disasters as well. Trauma can be experienced either personal or in groups, it "cannot be solved and never go away" (Smelser, 2001, 54). The exposure of people to shocking events is due to either their geopolitical areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan, South Africa, … etc.. where military forces are imposed on their civil communities as colonialism, or to the events that might happen accidently in peaceful areas. In both cases, trauma is created and people are affected by.

1.Personal and Cultural trauma:
The modern era is known as traumatic and stressful. It is described by critics as "it seemed as if the entire twentieth century was marked under the sign of 'historical trauma'" (Luckhurst, 2006, 2). Since post 9/11, fiction deals with trauma and in both types; psychic and communal, trauma, then is treated as a modernist phenomenon, it "has become a major signifier of our age…rape and genocide…slavery…terrorist attack and natural disasters" (Fassin, 2009, xi). Psychic trauma is dealt with as personal and is concerned with psyche, while the communal is treated as cultural and is concerned with society. Both occur after a sudden shock when people face a horrible event afflicts their memory and changes their conscious and identity in future (Alexander, 2004, 1). As Caruth points out "trauma marks the mind first and breaks the experience of the victim, which afflicts the world at last" (Unclaimed Experience 4). Within this respect, the community's identity comes to a sense; either to settle down or to be raptured. Thus, the psychological side is a part of the social field, and the shift is from psychology into sociology (Randall, 2015, 121). Therefore, the stress caused by trauma mainly, during the modern ages forms an unsolved complex inside the Afghani, African, Pakistani, Iraqi, and American people, in particular.
The trauma of 9/11 and aftermaths in America, mass trauma, and ongoing wars, lead to mental illnesses and physical diseases (Seery, 2008, 67). The distinction between collective and individual trauma is significant because the response to each is different. Survivors of psychic trauma evidently, suffer from PTSD because of the repeated mechanisms in their mind; hallucination, nightmares, and flashbacks, while in collective traumatic experience, the matter is much more complex because it depends on the group nature that they may try to forget the event, skip it, or keep it in the conscious according to the ideology they belong to (Smesler, 2001, 53). Social support is an effective factor to post-traumatic event. When people are given little or low social help, they obviously get increased in traumatic symptoms. For instance, soldiers who participate in the battle field when they return home and find their families traumatized, they try to detach themselves from them; while if they find support and encouragement, the effect of trauma will gradually be minimized (Ann, 2011, 33).
Studies investigate both types related to a political process and religious spheres, depending on the literature of post 9/11. In the field of personal trauma, which strikes the survivor's psychiatric aspect, the terrorist attack creates within people fear and anxiety. It dates a point in history featured in mourning , sorrow, and destruction. Personal trauma is shown in Kalfus's novel concerning genocide in that Joyce, the protagonist, is traumatized because she has most of her colleagues lost in the tower's collapse, died or seriously wounded. The same can be said about Marshall, his heart remains "burning" because of the death of his friends at the Ground Zero. Another form of personal trauma seen in the novel is that mostly, all the characters lack communication with each other, and cannot express themselves (Caruth& Keanan, 1991, 256). The couple, the two children, neighbors, friends, the jewish man, and the Afghan woman are traumatized. Erikson's perspective on personal trauma is that it "breaks through one's defenses so suddenly and with such brutal force that one cannot react to it effectively". (1995,3) Collective trauma, on the other hand, is a psychological response by society to a tragic event, differs from the personal in that people might not witness the actual event and they might be far removed from the real incident in time and place. The reactions are differently, shaped and formed (Volkan, 1997, 40). Cultural trauma represents an identity threat (Branscomber et al., 1999, 38). Perceiving collective trauma is different from one generation into another; each reacts according to his point of view and the way he grasps the traumatic event even if the event happened before his birth (Licata & Mercy, 2015, 36 ). The role of books is to record what cannot be seen on television that it is hard to observe or describe the event as it is (Branscomber et al., 1999, 86). What Erikson has viewed on collective trauma is that it is "a blow to the basic tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together and impairs the prevailing sense of communality" (1995, 6). Erikson has widen his view by saying: "The collective trauma works its way slowly and even insidiously into the awareness of those who suffer from it, so it is a gradual realization that the community no longer exists as an effective source of support" (18). In his paper, he states that "we no longer exist as linked cells in a larger communal body (Erikson, 1976, 153-154) The United States, as the president George Bush stated in 2003, is being attracted because of its "exceptional nature", first and "moral superiority", second (Bush, 2003, n. p). Bush never gives up or shows weaknesses. On the contrary, he defends America, saying that in the state of "Exceptionalism", the shock of 9/11 caused victimized citizens to confirm the discourse of the innocence of America. America, as he states, has witnessed a struggle between two powers; good versus evil (ibid). Some claimed that 9/11 is the end of postmodernism and the age of irony (Rosenblatt, 2001, n. p); others said that Bush has "fixed ideas", and a new "unilateralism" (Fish, 2001,1). In this, Fish defended the Bush administration. Duval, in his article, "Homeland Security", discussed the political discourse in literature, concluding that the states of irony and postmodern remain significant articles help in portraying the new geopolitical landscape. They are shown in Kalfus's novel. The relationship between what is domestic tragedy and what concerns the authority is emphasized.

PTSD
The PTSD is a psychiatric disorder resulted from a threatening, painful, or traumatic event. Since the twenty-first century is stressful in general, so the PTSD is a serious phenomenon to the people of the current era that they experience different types of trauma. "An identification of trauma, and specifically a diagnosis of PTSD, might lead to a deeper understanding of the painful experiences of victims" (Leys, 2004, 2). The novel displays the traumatized survivors of 9/11 on whom behavior has changed and deeply noticed. The PTSD is everywhere in the novel; concerning family relations, there is a kind of discomfort and disloyalty. There is always chaos in the house "the world of derangement and chaos" (Kalfus, 2007, 188). Disorder is seen through the way the characters act; they feel uncertain, unsteady, unable to do things, they are wondering the reasons of their conditions. They seek divorce with no reasons, they are looking for detachment from each other but they do not know why. Joyce wanders "why did she hate him" (Kalfus, 2007, 46). Trauma is "born by the act of departure (Caruth, 1995, 22). The disorder which follows trauma is conceived through the scene of a bomb made house, when Marshall aimed at imitating terrorists of the grieve attacks, attempting suicide. Joyce expresses her PTSD in many ways: False things always come to her mind; temptation, for example is her first idea, then it leads to sexual relationships with a FBI agent. She accused her husband of terrorism and introduced observations to the police in order to seduce him. She always looks for illegal relations. She wants to escape her trauma "the story of trauma is inescapably bound to a referential return" (Caruth, 1995, 7). Mental trauma which Joyce suffered from is soon changed into physical. Her casual sex is referred to in the novel as "Terror Sex", it is a kind of disorder after a traumatic event, and this idea is suggestive to the title of the novel PTSD with the characters' life suggests the disorder of the States post 9/11. It is introduced through the government in a form of insecurity, rights that are lost; betrayal and disloyalty. Kalfus presents Joyce mistaken that her presence in America is secure "resented her former belief that their lives … had been secure. Someone had lied to them as shamelessly as a spouse" (Kalfus, 2007, 32). As the States begin to be seen insecure, the same is for the home. The danger is now everywhere. Joyce decides to report Marshall to the FBI agent ( 35). The agent inspects the office that "search for clues … lead to the source of the real anthrax" (32). The baseless and untrue information Joyce introduces to the FBI person is for seeking freedom through the insecure climate. She accuses Marshall of violating human rights and demands for putting him at the camp prison. She complains her bad relation with Marshall to the FBI agent, Robbins; then she seeks "Terror Sex". She admires police officers within the terrorist surrounding that policemen are attractive to all. It is, in fact, an idea of disorder; the government is busy with one thing and people are busy with another. "After everything that had happened, to her city and to her marriage" ( 23), she wants to "take a man and breaks him" (198). Julie Webber, in The Culture Set Up of Comedy, has described the novel as a "viable way to engage in cultural and political critique" (2013,4) The PTSD is dealt with in the theories of both Caruth and Erikson and is regarded as the main concept. They based their assumptions on the period that follows the tragic event, mainly. Both agree that since trauma is silent in the beginning, the tragic effect comes after. Caruth, in her book, Unclaimed Experience (1996), mentioned that trauma is "unspeakable". She added that it needs a time span to show the tragic effect (4). However, the PTSD is referred to by Caruth when she said that "the story of trauma is inescapably bound to a referential return" (7). Therefore, post 9/11 novelists present characters showing silence at first and then calamity begins. The disorder is seen through the characters' own life and their families. The PTSD is also dealt with in Erikson's theory, as he argued in his "Notes on Trauma and Community" (1995) that the effect of a traumatic event does not appear at once. In that, he agreed with Caruth's perspective on the reactions of the traumatized individuals. The novel is an embodiment of the PTSD survivors of 9/11. Satire takes different attitudes of sorrow, loss, mourning, fall, grief, and national memorialization

Conclusion
Self-depression and memorial trauma turn out to be cultural in the form of divorce, madness, immigration, or suicide. Thus, Ground Zero, soon becomes a spot of memorial trauma, after 9/11; burning candles, raising flags, posting photographs on the walls, and so on. Therefore, the annual remembrance of private trauma is, with the passage of time, changed into cultural that trauma involves all people in New York City. Trauma is a fixed memory in mind that people re-experience it throughout their life. The novel deals with both types of trauma. It is cycling-ending up as it begins. Satire is the main theme of the novel. It is the idea that describes the twenty-first century and a double-edged procedure has a dialogic link with history. The author represents it in the form of suspicion through anxieties, dissatisfaction, and follies of the characters. The aim is to confirm the idea of the political issue of disorder, fear, and the absence of security. Satire criticizes the leaders in the States who are unable to maintain their responsibilities. PTSD is shown in various ways such as fragmentations, divorce, betrayal and so on. Portraying 9/11 attacks; bombs, guilt, destruction, and damage, gives an insight as if the novel is described as an unexpected and dangerous event. Trauma afflicts society as it afflicts individuals. The collapse of the family indicates the collapse of the Two Twin Towers at Ground Zero. However the collapse of the towers stands for the collapse of religion and civilization, Kalfus proves that though the breakup of the family represents the fall of civilization, metaphorically, enthusiasm and unity among people reflect the coherence and strong will of the multi cultured society. Kalfus presents his characters static; there is no development, they only complaint from the beginning till the end. They stand for modern men in modern societies. The novel is a healer to the destruction made by the attacks and disorder created aftermaths soon.