A Study of Karen Horney’s Neurotic Crisis in Nadeem Aslam’s The Golden Legend (2017)

Abstract

This research paper tends to explore the anxiety caused by the absence of love and affection, which generates complexes in the personality of the sufferers. The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam is a satisfactory illustration of the neurotic crisis, presented by Karen Horney. This paper highlights the calamity of “basic anxiety” (Horney) caused by interpersonal and mutual relationships. It leads a person to develop the yearning for compliance, withdrawal or aggression (Horney), as all the characters in the novel develop their personality with the urging desire for stability, while the trauma is instilled in their minds by the dominant societal factors. It is an exorbitant novel about the mental trauma executed on the minds of the margins of society by the intolerant and aggressive attitude of the majority class. This novel revolves around the character of Nargis, who after her husband's death is in search of stability and tries to find solace in the people around her but the society and norms cause neurosis in her personality. The neurosis disturbs the basic health and energy of the mind, which leads to the alienation process. The same crisis is with the other characters of the novel, as Imran, Helen, Lily and Ayesha are going through the same struggle to fit in society but the strict beliefs do not allow them to have their basic right of love and affection. This deprivation creates mental illness, which develops the traumatic situation. This paper views the novel through the character’s yearning for company, love and kindness. The gap is created in the formation of healthy relationships due to fixed societal prejudice and anger against the marginalized class, causing evil in the society "Basic Evil' (Horney). This gap widens when these people start hiding themselves under the veil of aggressive and compliant attitude. So this paper analyses the fear in the hearts of the people due to societal build boundaries.