ISSN:(O) 2320-5407, ISSN(P) 3107-4928 Int. J. Adv. Res.

13(10), October-2025, 664-669

Journal Homepage: - www.journalijar.com

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/21953

DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/21953

RESEARCH ARTICLE

HAUNTED HANDS: TRAUMA, ETHICS AND THE MORAL LABYRINTH OF THE

WAR DOCTOR IN DANIEL MASON'S THE WINTER SOLDIER

Jeya Vardhani S V and B Pavithra

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Manuscript Info Abstract
……………………. ………………………………………………………………
Manuscript History The paper examines the psychological impact of war on combat
Received: 13 August 2025 doctors through the lens of Daniel Mason’s The Winter Soldier.
Final Accepted: 15 September 2025 Stepping outside typical trauma stories featuring soldiers or refugees,
Published: October 2025 the research is centered around the special role of medical doctors
working in war zones. Using Glenn E. Richardson’s Metatheory of
Key words:-
combat narrative, PTSD, medical Resilience and Resiliency and theories of trauma by Cathy Caruth,
ethics, resilience theory, war trauma Charles Figley, Judith Herman, Dori Laub, Bessel van der Kolk, and
Dominick lacapra, the paper examines how trauma interferes with
homeostasis and how people cope with reintegration. By examining
the figure of Lucius Krzelewski, a young student of medicine and the
other major characters in the novel who are forced into the reality of
World War I, the study explores the deep ethical, psychological, and
affective demands of caregiving in war. The research demonstrates
that resilience is not linear or predetermined. It is profoundly
influenced by interpersonal relationships, institutional limitations, and
the persistent shadow of trauma. Finally, the paper aims to widen the
horizon of trauma literature by situating medical caregivers as healers
and sufferers alike as depicted in the chosen novel of Mason.

"© 2025 by the Author(s). Published by IJAR under CC BY 4.0. Unrestricted use
allowed with credit to the author."

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Introduction:-
Trauma and the Battlefield of Care:-
Trauma studies have become the center of present-day studies of war and psychological suffering. Conventionally,
trauma emphasizes the woes of soldiers, civilians, or refugees, highlighting the tangible war casualties. Trauma, a
prominent psychological reaction to deeply painful events, may grow further as post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), depression, dissociation, or somatic complaints. A crucial yet overlooked population within the discourse
of trauma is that of combat doctors and health workers. Despite the meticulous training, they are most often
immersed in situations that significantly impact their psychological well-being.

For these medical professionals, the battlefield becomes not only a field of medical crisis but evolves into a complex
ethical and emotional crucible.Studies in trauma and resilience have provided rich frameworks for comprehending
the psychological and ethical disputes encountered by caregiving professionals. This research uses Glenn E.
Richardson's resilience theory that contemplates resilience as a shifting, ongoing reintegration of shattered identity
and meaning. This focus is supported by Caruth’s belated trauma theory and Herman’s three stage recovery model
depicting how trauma destructs time and identity, while also prioritizing the long process of healing.

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Concepts like moral injury and compassion fatigue have further reflected the emotional toll on medical professionals
at the time of war and crisis. Dori Laub’s work on observing trauma, Bessel van der Kolk’s work on somatic prints
of trauma, and Dominick lacapra’s distinction between acting out and working through trauma further enrich the
study. Through discussion of significant events and figures from Daniel Mason’s The Winter Soldier, the research
paper throws light into how trauma shatters identity and reworks morality. Further, it also challenges the very
foundations of the healing profession.

Methodology:-
This research paper uses mixed-method qualitative approach, with close reading of the book and thematic analysis
of it that brings out the portrayal of trauma and resilience. Analysis centers on finding the repeated patterns,
narrative approaches, and symbols that inform on the psychological as well as ethical choices of protagonist, Lucius
Krzelewski, amidst World War I. The research also takes aid from major theoretical models, such as Glenn E.
Richardson’s Metatheory of Resilience and Resiliency, and observations from well-established trauma theorists like
Cathy Caruth, Judith Herman, Dori Laub, etc. This approach allows for an accurate analysis of the complex
relationship between social context, personal encounters, and the lasting impacts of trauma on frontline helpers in
war zones as depicted through the characters from the novel.

Results:-
Analysis of The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason revealed that there are three main observations and supporting
narrative devices that are pivotal to studying combat trauma. At the outset, the physical location was brought in to
display the fall of medical ethics practice at several instances. In particular, the systemic malfunction is symbolised
by the field hospital situated in the vacated church in Lemnowice, something that drives the protagonist, Lucius, to a
utilitarian moral push. Second, the neurological process of the trauma is displayed by the character of Horvath who
deals with neuro-shock or nerven-shock, a condition caused by war with a complex of dramatic symptoms, such as
catatonia and physical dissociation. Third, the narrative structure is non-linear and disjointed in a way of temporal
ordering. This structure reflects the broken mental condition of the narrator, the protagonist. The implementation of
medical imagery and repetitive use of winter as a symbol supports these findings and lays out the textual foundation
of the further theoretical discussion of the moral injury, fragmentation of the self and resilience.

Literary Analysis and Discussion:-

Combat Medicine and Fracture of Self:-
Combat trauma leaves strong, leading impacts on members of caregiving professions, often magnifying the moral
and psychological break between their role in healing and the violence that surrounds them. Lucius Krzelewski is a
young medical student who is suddenly sent into a distant field hospital during World War I. His lack of experience
is immediately evident as he faces catastrophic conditions such as shortage of equipment and manpower as well as
excess casualties. The empty church in Lemnowice, the Carpathian Mountains, which is also one of the battlefields,
symbolizes the chaos of a war-worn medical system collapsing under the strain of conflict. The hospital, devoid of
any X-ray machine and having only one nurse, represents Lucius’s desperation and abandonment.Lucius's initial
response to his environment is the embodiment of the disruption stage of Richardson’s resilience model. His
everyday life, based on organized academic study, is disrupted. Confronted with the possibility of amputation, death,
and mental breakdown of his patients, Lucius experiences a deep destabilization of his identity. One particularly
harrowing scene features Margarete, the head nurse, instructing Lucius not to waste time on mortally wounded
patients: “I know it’s hard, but you’ll get used to it” (Mason 76). This utilitarian logic conflicts with Lucius’s
idealism, initiating a moral crisis that reflects the broader dissonance of wartime medicine. As Shay integrates,
moral injury highlights the emotional consequences of betrayal in risky settings by authority, and the concept
magnifies Lucius’s situation. The experience creates a deep ethical dilemma for Lucius.

The contrast between Lucius’s medical oath and the need to triage patients according to available resources
highlights the ethical dilemma that faces combat physicians. As a student, Lucius had felt medicine was an art of
precision and compassion. He had a “dream of being able to see another person’s thinking” (Mason, 18). The
battlefield soon dispels this ideal, reducing surgeries to survivalist procedures without the component of empathy.
His first amputation rewires his psychology. It takes a shift from being a healer to becoming a traumatized actor in
the violence of war.The transgression of his fundamental ethical principles is a deep moral wound, the term that
Jonathan Shay describes as the long-term psychological harm resulting when an individual in power commits what
is felt to be a betrayal of that which is morally correct. The betrayal in the case of Lucius is not that of a superior but

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systemic, involving the logistical realities of war that compel him to deviate from his medical principles. These
instances reflect on the ethical and moral dilemma of Lucius, depicting the transition from being a highly motivated,
academically driven student to an unwilling bearer of death. This is both a professional transformation and a
symbolic demise of his moral self.

Richardson's Metatheory of Resilience:-

Glenn E. Richardson’s resilience theory divides into three stages: homeostasis, disruption, and reintegration. The
first stage is where the individuals operate within a stable psychosocial system. The second stage, disruption, results
when the system is destabilized by occurrence of any serious trauma, pushing the need for reintegration in either
healthy growth or pathological dysfunction. Lucius’s present life in the church becomes a perfect example for this
model. His shift from secure and well-balanced academic life to war’s horrific confusion and then to his strained
efforts to reintegrate to his old self. While Richardson highlights the potential for resilient reintegration, he also
concedes that some remain wired in fragmentation. This can be studied with the help of Judith Herman’s trauma
recovery model. According to Herman, healing is only possible through safety, remembrance, and reconnection.
Unfortunately, Lucius lacks everything he needs to heal. His surroundings continue to change consistently which
breaks the relationship he built with the people he loved. His employment at a rehabilitation center provides a
fleeting experience of structure, but he finds no emotional closure. Estrangement from family, friends, and his mind
reflects the vulnerability of reintegration. This resilient reintegration in The Winter Soldier is not depicted as a
transition to a trauma-preceding state, but instead as a learning process for living with the long-term effects of
trauma.

Following this, Dominick lacapra’s differentiation of acting out and working through trauma sheds light on Lucius’s
psychological condition. Acting out consists of repetitive compulsions to reproduce trauma with no outcome, while
working through enables integration of the trauma into the self. Lucius’s repetitive nightmares and absence of
emotional intelligence indicate his times of falling out, while his ultimate quest for Margarete indicates an effort at
working through trauma and proceeding to reintegration. This course of action emphasizes the non-linear
progression of recovery, in which forward evolution is frequently disrupted by regressions, noting the constant battle
to reconcile traumatic experience.

Shell-Shock and the Neurology of War:-

The novel’s most powerful description of trauma is in its depiction of the concept, shell-shock, through the figure of
Horvath. Displaying paralysis, catatonia, and affective dissociation in Horvath, the condition is afflicted with what
was first referred to as nervous shock/ “nerven-shock, a new disease, born out of war,” (Mason, 116), as described in
the novel. The condition is now technically diagnosed as PTSD, representing the mystery of trauma-related
neurological breakdown due to war.Historically, shell-shock was seen as both a medical and moral abnormality. As
Crocq and Crocq argue, shell-shock blurred the line between psychological injury and cowardice, complicating
medical treatment and societal perception. In the novel, Lucius’s inability to treat Horvath and his guilt over
Horvath’s deterioration mirrors the helplessness experienced by early trauma physicians. Horvath’s eventual and
imposed return to the combat field, a cruel act of an institution, becomes the final transgression of ethical medicine.
This event highlights a deep dilemma for medical practitioners when faced with situations they are not well-placed
to handle, and when institutional pressures take precedence over ethical judgment.

The forced return of Horvath into combat contravenes the principle of medical neutrality, which, as Gross
elaborates, requires that medical professionals refrain from participating in hostilities and must treat all injured
persons with no regard to affiliation. This phenomenon is also compatible with Cathy Caruth’s theory of trauma
where it is not comprehended in the moment but seen as events that come back through haunting recollections.
Horvath’s lack of knowledge about his shell-shock condition, despite being a soldier, portrays the limits of medicine
during the early 20th century. The representation of shell-shock in the novel acts as a reminder of the bitterness of
war, its psychological damage on people as well as the lack of medical knowledge. Bessel Van Kolk’s The Body
Keeps the Score highlights the anatomic trace of trauma, depicting the phenomenon that the memories saved from
any traumatic event are not stored only in mind but also in the body, inexpressible in verbal account. Horvath’s
disassociation and paralysis portrays how trauma intervenes in physical health, making it difficult for medical help
and self recovery. Also, Lucius’s dream of Horvath is not just a flashback but a portrayal of dissociated experience.
This reveals the complex dynamics of the interplay between physical and psychological struggles and difficulty of
treating conditions that are resistant to easy classifications.

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Power, Gender, and Institutional Violence:-

Mason’s depiction of the military institution as hierarchical and abusive explains the novel’s trauma narrative. The
power employed by characters like Horst embodies the dehumanizing role of violence in war. The physical abuse
and sexual aggression imposed by Horst, upon the civilians, portrays a culture of supremity and impunity. The
medical corps are forced to be obedient to military purposes rather than being independent, breaking the principles
and immunity of medical neutrality. “Lieutenant, you are going to break his wind pipe” (Mason, 140) shows the
amount of violent strength Horst used on Horvath to make him obey his commands, which was for Horvath to return
to the military base, despite being sick. The novel demonstrates how violation of medical neutrality by the military
represents a chain reaction of breaches in ethics. These flow of patterns reflect how institutions and systems inflict
personal trauma and how the fall of ethical norms have extended effects on vulnerable people. Mason drafts
Margarete as a character who challenges the conventional gender roles. She exhibits a strong feminine presence
while also representing the vulnerabilities of being a woman amidst the severity of war. Her relationship with Lucius
goes beyond romance, becoming their survival mechanism and a source of psychological reliability. However, her
absence from Lucius’s life in the second half of the narrative plays a crucial role in shaping his personality. She
becomes the reason for his emotional breakdown, portraying that even love during war comes with loss.

Dori Laub’s Testimony: Crisis of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History (1991) underlines that
witnessing trauma, either as victim or caregiver, represents an ethical and psychological act of co-presence that
requires a response to the realities of trauma. The relationship between Lucius and Margarete highlights the need for
emotional stability and interpersonal connection amidst the surfacing violence of war. The degradation of
compassion, in cases of relationship and career, compels Lucius to evolve in order to survive. Lucius, a young
student who once had a prominent admiration for medicine, has now come to see it as a violent, merciless act of
butchery. He became the “Carver of flesh, sawyer of bone” (Mason, 204). He is not only a doctor in the field but
also a witness to violence, an actor striving to survive, and a traumatised victim who bears the imprints. Therefore,
the trauma that he undergoes is multi-dimentional. Through these instances, the novel firmly represents how power
abuse and institutional violence can inflict long-term, deep injuries which often amplify the trauma of war itself.

Intimacy as Resilience: Love, Nature, and Moral Anchors:-

Nature acts as an escapism to all the characters in the novel during the high time of war. Lucius and Margarete’s
walks in the woods, under the stars or times by the river, collecting herbs and vegetables in the forest give the reader
a feel of relief and peace. These scenes represent Richardson’s concept of reintegration aids through spiritual and
social processes. Margarete’s belief in divine protection is evidence of how religion becomes a good coping skill. “I
see not death before me, Doctor, I see the glimmer of my heavenly crown” (Mason, 56). These natural scenery and
religious events comfort the characters as well as the readers, making it as the counterpoint to violence during war.
Despite the strength that love gives, it also indicates the vulnerability of relying on intimacy for emotional stability.
When Margarete goes missing, Lucius falls into despair. His unending efforts to locate her depicts the confusion and
pain the person feels when they lose their loved ones.

Charles Figley’s Compassion Fatigue Model explains the emotional exhaustion one gets while feeling too deeply
can lead to psychological shutdown. Lucius’s experience reflects the vulnerability of being dependent on bonds for
resilience and the risks that people face due to the interpersonal dependency which leads to additional trauma. In the
climax of the novel, Lucius finds Margarete married to Horvath, with a child. Despite the shock, this discovery acts
as a symbolic closure needed for him to give up on her and move on in his life. He finds her true self and fragments
of his shattered self in her. This resonates with Caruth’s (1996) suggestion that the return of trauma aids in
understanding and healing past wounds. Only after confronting Margarete’s reality, Lucius decides to rebuild his
life. The lines “Thank you” and “He watched her as she walked down the street….He took a step. The world
received him” (Mason, 336) hints at the agonizing task of accepting loss and betrayal and his resilience to live a new
life.

Narrative Structure and Symbolism: Fragmented Time and Medical Imagery:-

The non-linear structure of The Winter Soldier depicts the fragmentation of trauma. Through memory, latency and
temporal reverse, Mason depicts the shattered mind of the protagonist, Lucius. The narrative starts in the middle of
the story and then, returns to the flashback of Lucius’s evolution from his college as a medical student to a
traumatized frontline doctor. The structure that Mason uses captures the “belatedness” of trauma, termed by Caruth
in Unclaimed Experience. According to Caruth, “traumatic experience isn’t fully comprehended at first but comes
back to interrupt temporal continuity”. Iconic moments of trauma, such as Margarete’s disappearance and Horvath’s

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condition, are recalled through Lucius’s fractured memory, resisting simple linear narration. These transitions
between events mimic the psychological dissociation of trauma victims. It also creates a narrative empathy and puts
the readers in the state of co-living along with the unresolved trauma throughout the plot.

Symbolism also affirms this fragmentation. The repeated symbol of winter narrates the psychological stasis and
ethical hierarchy. Further, the title can be seen as a symbol of not heroism, but emotional dormancy and underlying
anguish. The cold, blunt landscape portrays Lucius’s inner character. Medical imagery displays the darkness of
reality. The body is symbolised to the battleground, and the surgical language insists on the conflict between cure
and damage. Wounds, sutures, and scars reflect the psychological condition of Lucius, tracing the bodily imprints of
trauma. The field hospital is a liminal space where the boundaries like doctor/patient, humanity/inhumanity,
sanity/madness are blurred. Apart from civilian and military presence, the space exists in the moral grey area where
Lucius operates. The slow destruction of the hospital symbolises loss of Lucius’s idealism and morality. Margarete
is depicted as a symbolic muse and mirror. As a nurse, healer and flight risk, she resists gender normalcy and
symbolises the quality of hope and comfort during war. Hence, her disappearance becomes a traumatic rupture for
Lucius, causing him to lose his ethical clarity. Through the lens of these events, it is evident that the entire novel
becomes a bittersweet emblem of delight, confusion and suffering.

Aftermath: Haunted Healing and the Long Shadow of War:-

Despite returning to home, Lucius suffers from endless memories of war. The quote “Horvath screaming. Horvath
holding up his amputated feet.” (Mason, 228) represents these images which are repetitive and intrusive. They are
not flashbacks but reminders of unresolved trauma that represent the power it holds over the mind. The medical
detachment Lucius had previously encountered as an adaptation or a survival mechanism in the field hospital, now
becomes an obstacle to his reintegration into civilian life on an emotional level. That detachment that had made him
operate amidst such agony now serves as a barrier to relating and working through his emotional
anguish.Irrespective of his professional advancement and the illusion of a structured life, Lucius’s personal life
remains stagnant with no ability to move forward. An arranged marriage, devoid of emotional connection, ends in
disappointment, further highlighting his struggle to find love and normalcy in the aftermath of war. His new role at a
rehabilitation center allows him only to function, not to heal or grow. He is stuck in an inactive level, living neither
in his past nor in the future.

The significant event of searching for Margarete becomes a turning point in the process of his reintegration.
Through his encounter with the past and the woman who was once his source of love and loss, he affirms narrative
authority over his life. This difficult act of closure is an evident step to flourish in a new identity and include his
traumatic experiences. It is not a matter of forgetting or erasing the past but recognising the influence it has and
developing a way to continue further with a fuller sense of himself.Richardson’s theory of resilient reintegration is
not shown through the elimination of trauma, but in its integration into another greater self-concept. Lucius’s life
choices strengthen the reality that resilience does not mean going back to the pre-traumatic character. It requires an
acceptance of the trauma, comprehending it, and finding a way to live a worthy life despite the loss and suffering.

Conclusion:-
The Ethics of Endurance:-
Daniel Mason’s The Winter Soldier inspects resilience and trauma through the frequently overlooked lens of combat
doctors, focusing on Lucius Krzelewski, whose moral and psychological journey reveals the burdens of devastation
and healing. Unlike traditional trauma scripts centered on soldiers or civilians, Mason lays the derived trauma and
moral loss. Implementing Glenn E.Richardson’s Metatheory of resilience with insights from Caruth, Herman,
lacapra, Laub, and van der Kolk, the novel depicts how trauma disrupts psychological stability, ethics and identity.
Lucius’s struggle to rebind medical idealism with wartime brutality exposes deep ethical deviations still prevalent in
current discussions on military and humanitarian medicine. Resilience depicted by Mason is not linear or heroic but
a feeble, slow, ongoing process labelled by fragmentation, acting out and making sense of it. The novel suggests
healing isn’t forgetting the trauma completely but learning to live with it. Witnessing, both giving and receiving, is
crucially impacting in case of any trauma. Borrowing from Laub, Mason shows how shared vulnerability and
recognition become central anchors in trauma recovery. Ultimately, this paper portrays the novel The Winter Soldier
as a part of trauma literature by depicting the complicated ideas of victimhood and survival skills, pulling ethical
attention to the caregivers who endure the pain of violence and loss in shadow.

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