Psychological criticism of novels paves the way to identify the inner traits and desires of characters and to explore the nature and reasons behind their links and relationships. The theory of Transactional Analysis (TA), which is developed by the American-Canadian psychologist Eric Berne (1910-1970), analyzes and diagnoses the psychological states and transactional behaviors of characters. Berne’s theory is a valuable tool for analyzing literary texts, especially narrative texts which involve various characters. This becomes particularly significant in war-themed novels where characters display different behaviors in various situations. Most of Ibrahim Nasrollah's novels reflect the dual perspective and nature of the characters involved in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In Zilal al-Mafatih, Nasrollah tells the story of a Palestinian woman named Maryam, who, despite her patriotism, does not forget her humanity and She shelters an injured Israeli soldier named Nahum. The majority of the narrative is set many years after this event, where Nahum, now an officer in the Israeli army, seeks to destroy Mariam's village and erase all traces of life (the shadows of the house keys: Zilal al-Mafatih) from there. This study, using an analytical-descriptive method based on Eric Berne's theory, examines the dominant states of the Child, Parent, and Adult in the characters of the aforementioned novel and diagnoses their transactional behaviors. In Zilal al-Mafatih, all three personality types -Child (with signs of racism, anti-Arab sentiments, and enemy perception), Adult (with signs of humanism, patriotism, and idealism), and Parent (with both positive and negative traits) - are present....
Imanian, H., saberi, H., & Bashiri, A. (2025). Analysis of Transactional Behavior in the Characters of "Zilal al-Mafatih" Based on Eric Berne's Theory. Research in Narrative Literature, (), -. doi: 10.22126/rp.2025.12045.2103
MLA
Hosein Imanian; haniyeh saberi; Ali Bashiri. "Analysis of Transactional Behavior in the Characters of "Zilal al-Mafatih" Based on Eric Berne's Theory". Research in Narrative Literature, , , 2025, -. doi: 10.22126/rp.2025.12045.2103
HARVARD
Imanian, H., saberi, H., Bashiri, A. (2025). 'Analysis of Transactional Behavior in the Characters of "Zilal al-Mafatih" Based on Eric Berne's Theory', Research in Narrative Literature, (), pp. -. doi: 10.22126/rp.2025.12045.2103
VANCOUVER
Imanian, H., saberi, H., Bashiri, A. Analysis of Transactional Behavior in the Characters of "Zilal al-Mafatih" Based on Eric Berne's Theory. Research in Narrative Literature, 2025; (): -. doi: 10.22126/rp.2025.12045.2103
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