Trauma and Repression

The lasting effects of trauma are without a doubt the central unifying theme of Hystopia, and whether to combat this through repression or active acknowledgment is the question that drives the entire narrative. Hystopia takes place at the tail end of the Vietnam War, when the majority of the violence had already had a chance to take hold on both the individual and even larger national psyche. As the US begins its disgraced exit, John F. Kennedy and the government are forced to acknowledge the full impact of the lost war. However, instead of directly confronting the trauma that has been needlessly caused, the government forms the Psych Corps to erase the veterans’ memories through enfolding, and by extension expunging the war from history. However, as a careful examination of the characters shows, this tactic is avoidant of the problem at best, an erasure...