Unsilencing Suffering: Gendered Trauma and Narrative Resistance in Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone

Atiq Rahimi’s The Patience Stone explores the gendered experience of trauma inthe context of war-torn Afghanistan, offering a poignant narrative that subvertsEurocentric models of witnessing and representation. This paper examines howRahimi’s unnamed female protagonist becomes both the subject and narrator ofsuffering, transforming her voicelessness into a radical act of resistance. Drawingon trauma theory, particularly the works of Cathy Caruth and Geoffrey Hartman,the study reveals how trauma resists linear narration and instead manifests throughfragmented recollection and delayed articulation. Furthermore, the novel’sallusion to the Persian myth of the "patience stone" (Sang-e Sabur) symbolizes thecultural localization of trauma, resisting its translation into universal Westernpsychological discourse. The analysis critiques the imperialist and patriarchalstructures exposed by the Soviet-Afghan War and its aftermath, contextualizingfemale suffering within broader socio-political and historical frameworks.Through the protagonist’s confessional monologues and acts of defiance, Rahimiinterrogates both personal and collective trauma, foregrounding the resilience ofmarginalized voices. By centering a silenced Afghan woman as a narrative agent,The Patience Stone reclaims storytelling as a site of resistance and redefinesheroism through endurance, self-expression, and the confrontation of systemicviolence.