Upaya Rekonsiliasi dari Trauma Akibat Perang dalam Novel "As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow" Karya Zoulfa Katouh

Agatha Asti Vidyarini, Achmad Munjid, M.A., Ph.D.

2024 | Tesis | S2 Sastra

Perang Suriah bermula dari konflik berkepanjangan yang dipicu oleh fenomena Arab Spring (Kebangkitan Dunia Arab) sebagai bentuk perlawanan rakyat terhadap rezim otoriter Bashar Al-Assad. Kesewenang-wenangan penguasa dalam merepresi pergerakan rakyat demi mempertahankan posisi di pemerintahan meninggalkan jejak trauma mendalam bagi para penyintas, baik yang terlibat langsung dalam konflik maupun masyarakat sipil terdampak. Zoulfa Katouh melalui novel fiksi karyanya yang berjudul As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow berusaha menggambarkan bagaimana situasi dan kondisi Suriah pasca meletusnya Perang berkepanjangan. Novel ini mendapatkan perhatian publik karena mengeksplorasi pengalaman traumatis akibat perang dan bagaimana setiap tokohnya berupaya mengatasi traumanya.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengungkap konstruksi memori traumatis dan trauma, sekaligus menggambarkan bagaimana tokoh dalam novel As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow karya Zoulfa Katouh, melakukan upaya rekonsiliasi dari trauma akibat Perang Suriah. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori trauma Cathy Caruth dan konsep acting out dan working through LaCapra. Hasil penelitian menunjukan jika memori traumatis tokoh terhadap Perang Suriah dinarasikan melalui relasi sosial yang keras dan berbahaya, kehilangan orang terkasih, menyaksikan penderitaan korban, serta kerhancuran sejarah dan hilangnya kampung halaman. Serangkaian memori akan peristiwa tersebut melekat dalam diri tokoh utama dan menyebabkan trauma sebagaimana termanifestasi sebagai fenomena halusinasi, perasaan bersalah yang berujung pada tindakan obsesif, dan keputusasaan.  

Agar dapat beralih dari acting out (terjebak dalam masa lalu) menuju working through (berdamai dengan masa lalu) setiap tokoh perlu melakukan upaya berekonsiliasi. Upaya rekonsiliasi tokoh dilakukan dengan mencari pasangan untuk bercerita, menerima kenyataan, serta membuat dokumentasi dan berdamai dengan diri. Kemudian sebagai langkah paling penting, para tokoh pergi mengungsi agar dapat memberi jarak pada masa lalu agar terlepas dari traumanya, dan memulai kehidupan baru sebagai tanda jika tokoh telah berhasil move on dari pengalaman di masa lalu yang tidak mungkin diubah. 

The Syrian war began as a prolonged conflict triggered by the Arab Spring phenomenon as a form of people resistance against the authoritarian regime of Bashar Al-Assad. The violence of the authorities in repressing the people's movement in order to maintain their position in the government has left a trail of deep trauma for the survivors, both those directly involved in the conflict and the affected civilians. Zoulfa Katouh, through his fictional novel “As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow”, tries to depict the situation and condition of Syria after the outbreak of the prolonged war. The novel gained public attention because it explores the traumatic experience of war and how each character tries to overcome their trauma.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the construction of traumatic memory and trauma, as well as describe how the characters in the novel “As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow” by Zoulfa Katouh, make efforts to reconcile from the trauma caused by the Syrian War. This research uses Cathy Caruth's trauma theory and LaCapra's acting out and working through concepts. The results show that the character's traumatic memory of the Syrian War is narrated through harsh and dangerous social relations, losing loved ones, witnessing the suffering of victims, as well as the destruction of history and the loss of hometowns. A series of memories of these events are embedded in the main character and cause trauma as manifested as hallucinatory phenomena, feelings of guilt that lead to obsessive actions, and hopelessness.

In order to move from acting out (stuck in the past) to working through (making sense of the past) each character needs to reconcile. The reconciliation efforts of the characters are carried out by finding a partner to tell the story, accepting reality, as well as making documentation and making peace with the self. Then as the most important step, the characters go to refuge in order to give distance to the past to escape the trauma, and start a new life as a sign that the characters have successfully moved on from past experiences that cannot be changed.  

Kata Kunci : perang, trauma, rekonsiliasi, acting out, working through