Abstract
This article examines temporality in Monkey Bridge (1997), arguing that exiles inhabit a liminal temporal space suspended between a nostalgic past and an imagined future. Trauma intensifies this dislocation by disrupting linear time and destabilizing the self. Moving beyond classical trauma theory rooted in psychoanalytic models associated with Sigmund Freud and Cathy Caruth, the article situates Cao’s narrative within culturally specific frameworks that reject a single originating wound, emphasizing instead multiple, intersecting sources of pain. Drawing on the concept of the rhizome developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, the article mobilizes a rhizomatic framework to theorize trauma as emerging from the entanglement of war, exile, and family conflict, focusing in particular on how the destratification of memory and identity structures may lead either to disintegration or to transformation. The article further proposes a rhizomatic model of healing in which pain becomes a catalyst for renewal. Ultimately, it argues that healing in Monkey Bridge requires a cautious re-rooting in time, where memory becomes the ground for resilience and future becoming.