Watching and Disbelieving: Unseen Truths, Trauma, and Female Credibility in Feminist Psychological Thrillers

• Rubina Masood

  English Lecturer, Department of Foreign Langugaes, Jazan University, KSA

  Author

psychological thrillers as both objects of surveillance and narrators whose veracity is frequently questioned. This study analyses books such The Woman in the Window, Gone Girl, and The Girl on the Train, exploring the interplay of trauma, internalized doubt, and narrative unreliability in eroding female trustworthiness. Although these protagonists seem to possess narrative authority, their mental health, emotional expression, and nonconformity frequently prompt others—and occasionally themselves—to scrutinize their legitimacy. Utilizing feminist literary theory and trauma studies, the research delineates a persistent triad: surveillance, trauma, and disbelief. This triadic structure not only mirrors the real-world dynamics of women's perception and discreditation but also illustrates how genre literature reinterprets these subjects through suspense and psychological complexity. The research addresses significant deficiencies in existing scholarship, including the insufficiently examined relationship between self-surveillance and internalized gaslighting in female narrators. The study advocates for a more sophisticated interpretation of these thrillers, viewing them not merely as entertainment but as cultural artifacts that both challenge and occasionally perpetuate the marginalization of women's voices.
trauma, Gone Girl, Woman in the Window, The Girl on The Train 

1. Rubina Masood, English Lecturer, Department of Foreign Langugaes, Jazan University, KSA

   Rubina Masood is a Lecturer at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. She is engaged in teaching and academic activities in the field of English and literary studies. Her academic interests include literature, language, and related areas of humanities and social sciences.

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