From Domestic Abuse to Attachment Relations: Importance of Safe Haven in Zelda Lockhart‟s Fifth Bor

Abstract

Coercive and assaultive conduct behind closed doors
with physical, sexual and psychological attacks is a global phenomenon
not associated to geography, religion or social status. Presenting a
review of trauma in domestic sphere which usually remains concealed
from the society, I discuss how traumatized people endure their injuries
with the help of attachment relations. The protagonist of the selected
text cultivates a social support for herself which is rather challenging
but acts as a buffer against negative outcomes. This paper aims to draw
on Bowlby’s idea of attachment and the work of a contemporary
psychologist Jon G. Allen to assess the situation of Odessa. While
discussing the exterior landscape, I have used concepts of safe haven
and attachment, thus drawing conclusions about the novelist’s treatment
of the subject of hushed violence. The present study endeavors to
elucidate how non-visual contact with an attachment figure can give a
sense of security to the suffering child.