Alienation and Trauma in the novel “The Story of Zahra” by Hanan Al-Shaykh

Abstract

The novel “The Story of Zahra” by Hanan al-Shaykh, which Peter Ford translated into English for Quartet in 1986, is the subject of this study's stylistic critique. The tale of Zahra, a lady whose conflicts with her family and nation ultimately result in her misery and death, is told in this novel, which is set in Beirut both before and during the Lebanese Civil War. Verbs are the main topic of a lexical analysis of The Story of Zahra. The analysis reveals how the author mimicked the actual image of the war-torn society and the tragic existence of a little girl named Zahra through the use of particular verbs.