Embodied Trauma: The Role of Gender in Shaping Physical and Emotional Responses to Violence in Han Kang’s Human Acts

In order to better understand how gender affects people’s emotional and physical responses to violence, this paper examines the relationship between gender and trauma in Han Kang’s Human Acts. The Gwangju Uprising (1980) serves as the setting for the story, which powerfully depicts personal suffering in the face of political brutality. While the physical violence that results from the regime’s cruelty affects every individual, the present paper underscores the different ways that male and female characters embody and experience trauma, illuminating the complex relationship between gender and violence. The theoretical basis of this approach is the idea of embodied trauma, which looks at how trauma shows itself in the characters’ bodies on both a physical and emotional level. This study draws on trauma and feminist theory to emphasize the particular vulnerabilities and coping strategies that are related to gender. In Human Acts, female characters experience gender-based violence in the form of emotional manipulation, sexual abuse, and societal repression, in addition to political violence perpetrated by the state. These types of violence influence how trauma is internalized by women, who often use their bodies as spots of victimization and resistance. The study also explores how male characters process trauma differently, with physical endurance of ten prioritized over emotional catharsis. Through this exploration, the paper contributes to feminist literary criticism and trauma studies, providing a deeper understanding of how gender influences the embodiment of trauma in literature.

Keywords: Gender-based Violence, Female, Media, Resistance, Trauma