DefinePK

Abstract

This thesis explores the literary representation of disassociation and other grief coping strategies in Shahbano Bilgrami’s Those Children. Using Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement and Disassociation as an analytical framework and Kubler Ross’s Five Stages of Grief as a theoretical framework, the study explores how characters experience and express loss within their socio-cultural contexts. Through textual analysis and thematic interpretation, the research examines how the novel constructs emotional and narrative landscape of grief and recovery. The analysis reveals that the novel portrays grief not as a linear psychological process but as fragmented experience shaped by identity, memory and belonging. In Those Children it presents an internalized narrative of childhood loss and detachment. The novel highlights moments of emotional disconnection and oscillation between confronting and avoiding grief, aligning with the dual process model’s framework. By situating these narratives within broader conversations about disassociation and other grief coping strategies, the study contributes to an interdisciplinary understanding of disassociation and other grief coping strategies in literature