Civil War and the Fragmented Selves: A Critical Study of Romesh Gunesekera’s Noontide Toll

Abstract

Sri Lanka (previously known as “Ceylon”) had been a site of ethnic tension over the decades, culminating in the Civil War, which continued for more than twenty-six years, taking the lives of millions. This horrendous event, despite taking several scores of lives with the ground being soaked in young blood, has produced an entire body of writings that essentially captures the traumatic experiences of the victims and survivors. Romesh Gunesekera’s collection of short stories, Noontide Toll (2014), explores the complexities of reconstruction in the context of the three-decade-long Civil War between the Sri Lankan Government, ruled by the people of Sinhalese descent, and the Tamil Separatist guerrilla, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This paper aims to study the short stories from the collection that reflect the trauma of the War and its various manifestations.