Cat's Eye Trauma Theory

The extract in question is situated at the end of Chapter 20 of Cat’s Eye, where Cordelia, Grace and Carol attempt to bury the protagonist, Elaine Ridley, alive as some sort of sick joke. When this occurs, she is dressed as Mary Queen of Scots and plays along like a game, until she realises that the girls intended to leave her. Elaine then reflects on the traumatic experience and comes to the conclusion that she cannot remember any of her birthdays and other major event in her life due to the ordeal she went through at the age of the bullying.
The main occurrence in this extract of Cat’s Eye is a classic example of trauma theory. This is essentially when a particularly intense or strenuous event occurs and produces an excess of stimulation in the brain. When this occurs, “the brain is not able to fully assimilate

Repetition of the word “must” in the phrases “there must have been a party” and that “there must have been cake” because, in Elaine’s mind, the situation would not make sense in her brain. “Who would have come to the others?” she wonders to herself when she attempts to process the events at hand. Elaine goes on to muse in more detail of her lost memories as she attempts to remember and remind herself “of pastel icing, pink candles burning in the pale November afternoon light, and there is a sense of shame and failure” . The use of “pastel” and “pink” here conveys a sense of forced femininity. As made clear in previous chapters, Elaine has had struggles with femininity due to her closeness with her male relatives and complicated relationships with the women in her life. Loss of memory seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout the novel, as Elaine reflects on the fact that she has “forgotten things” , and that she cannot even remember if she has forgotten them or not, truly conveying the idea that these bullies have completely turned her life around and altered her personality and brain to the extent that Elaine cannot even remember