The Act of Writing as Therapy: Storytelling and Memory in The Blue Bedspread

Abstract

The Blue Bedspread (1999) by Raj Kamal Jha is a moving examination of trauma, memory, and the therapeutic power of narrative. The story, which is set on a single night in Calcutta, centers on an unidentified narrator who composes stories for his late sister's infant son who is up for adoption. By doing this, Jha presents writing as a healing tool that helps the narrator deal with loss, face repressed feelings, and preserve memories that may otherwise be lost. The child represents continuity as well as absence, emphasizing the human need to preserve ties to the past while dealing with loss. The relationship between memory, imagination, and identity is emphasized throughout the book. In order to achieve emotional control and self-understanding, the narrator manipulates painful events by fusing autobiographical truth with fiction and rearranging chaos into a logical story. Memory, closeness, and emotional fortitude are all reflected in symbolism, especially in the blue bedspread. The narrator's work exemplifies the power of literature beyond individual healing by promoting empathy, intergenerational connection, and social continuity. In the end, The Blue Bedspread sheds light on storytelling as an essential human activity that is relational, ethical, and therapeutic. Jha demonstrates how writing helps people deal with trauma, preserve memories, and find hope and continuity in the midst of life's significant losses by presenting literature as a channel for emotional survival, moral involvement, and resilience in addition to being an artistic form.