This study discusses complex PTSD and transgenerational trauma in Chinelo Onwualu’s short stories “What the Dead Man Said” and “Letters to My Mother” by investigating the effects of prolonged exposure to physical assault and rape on the protagonists, Azuka and Obeche. The study aims to describe the symptoms and causes of trauma by using a psychoanalytical approach. Based on the analysis, trauma symptoms vary from one character to another, exhibiting somatic and relational features that affect or halt the lives of the victims. Overcoming trauma requires initiating a three-step journey that Judith Herman, an American psychiatrist, identifies as the trauma recovery model, which starts with the stage of establishing safety, remembrance and mourning, and reconnection. Through these three stages, the study shows how Onwualu’s protagonists reconcile with their traumatic past, providing a narrative framework for healing that relies on specific cultural elements and the healing power of community-based support. The study concludes that the traumatic memories cannot be erased. They are integrated into the victims’ sense of self through the aid of the immediate environment and community. This is revealed in “Letters to My Mother” as the protagonist, Obeche, transcends her transmitted trauma by participating in communal practices that reconnect her with her ancestors and community. 

Keywords: Africanfuturism; Chinelo Onwualu; Complex PTSD; transgenerational trauma; trauma recovery

DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3202-08

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