Bāzyāft-33 (July-December 2018) Urdu Department, Punjab University, Lahore 15 Framing Traumatic Life Experiences: Connie in Toni Morrison’s PARADISE Shamaila Dodhy ABSTRACT: Narratives of traumatized women form the structural foundation of Paradise, those who are violated not by the Whites, but by the men of an all-black town of a newly established paradisal community. An idealized version of social order collapses in its aspiration to regulate and command human behaviour. The resultant experience of gendered trauma is exhaustively illustrated as Morrison cultivates the narrative in lingering traumatic memories. It will be demonstrated how Connie, who is perpetually traumatized by unusual experiences of life is retraumatized from within, which eclipses the possibility of promoting love for life. She wants to redeem herself and other stigmatized women who are rescued by her. They are encouraged by Connie‟s compassion to tell their collective narratives, establish their communion with each other while compelling them to confront the self. This study highlights the complexity of distress and recovery, proposing formulation of valid and reliable support. Self-nurturing and compassionate imagery can foster reconciliation with the traumatized part of the self which can effectively diminish trauma-related feelings like stress and anxiety. Keywords: life; memory; trauma; women; Introduction Paradise contributes to new discourses of otherness by narrating the history of an all-black town, Ruby in rural Oklahoma and a Convent where five young women have taken refuge. By situating the novel in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Morrison examines the realities of racial integration and gender equality. Disappointed by Haven which has been the group‟s first settlement, they establish Ruby which successively failed miserably because racist and sexist ideologies cross