CRUEL OPTIMISM AND EMOTIONAL WELLNESS, FANTASY OR REALITY? A CRITICAL STUDY BASED ON TASH AW’S WE, THE SURVIVORS

Abstract

We, The Survivors by a prominent Chinese Malaysian author, Tash Aw is considered a crucial literary work as it provides an alternative view, diverging from the mainstream notion of what it means to be a Chinese living in contemporary Malaysia. This novel portrays the lives of three generations of Chinese living in Malaysia and their struggle to carve out a life for themselves in a host country, Malaysia. Even though this novel offers a panoramic view of the Chinese community, the author focuses on individual characters very closely giving more weightage to the vivid portrayal of the inner thoughts and emotions of individual characters. This study aims to analyze how the novel portrays the emotions of characters and whether emotional wellness is an achievable goal considering the impact of cruel optimism. This study used textual analysis within the theoretical framework of Affect theory and probed into the key concepts proposed by Lauren Berlant in her seminal work Cruel Optimism (2011). The study concluded that even though emotional wellness is highly encouraged and is a path to real success, attaining it is not feasible for Chinese Malaysians due to the workings of cruel optimism disguised under race, class, gender, political and social inequality, poverty, lack of education, natural disasters, lack of job security and fate.

Keywords

optimism, cruelty, emotional wellness, chinese-malaysians, trauma.

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To cite this article

Fathima Seefa, K. R. (2024). Cruel Optimism and Emotional Wellness, Fantasy or Reality? A Critical Study Based on Tash Aw’s We, The Survivors. John Foundation Journal of EduSpark, 6(1), 1-15.