Personal Hysteria in Helen Oyeyemi’s The Opposite House

Abstract

It is observed that hysteria is distinguished from psychiatric disorders, and the distinction is established to prove that hysterical disorders are psychological in nature. The symptoms of hysteria are traumatic in nature and may occur in men and women. The subject of hysteria adapts to emotional problems, illness or disability and has unresolved emotional conflicts. A variety of symptoms affects the body and mind under stress and extends to alterations in personality or behaviour. Helen Oyeyemi’s Maja in The Opposite House (2007) experienced multiple traumas during her traverse from Cuba to London. She is assisted by her “personal hysteric”, as it is intensified by the feeling of dislocation. Breuer and Freud describe the recollection of the traumatic memory in their own words and through their new therapeutic method in Studies on Hysteria (1974). This article expands on Freud's theoretical framework to examine Maja's character.