Abstract

This study examines the dual nature of anxiety among diasporic subjects in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s The Last Gift. It first identifies anxiety as a product of racial conflict, class oppression, identity disorientation, and generational divides—laying bare its roots. Second, it analyzes how this anxiety is suppressed through the formation of a “Community of Silence” among diasporic groups. Third, it foregrounds anxiety’s role as a catalyst for shattering silence, rekindling emotional bonds, and ultimately transforming individual distress into collective experience. Drawing on Sianne Ngai’s theory of negative affect, this study interprets the metaphor of the “gift” in Abbas’s final deathbed recordings to trace this three-stage trajectory of anxiety. It argues that anxiety, far from being purely destructive, facilitates inter-generational and intercultural emotional connections, enabling diasporic subjects to construct emotional communities rooted in shared affective struggles. This process challenges conventional academic framings of “negative affects” and offers a narrative paradigm for resisting structural oppression in the globalized era—one that resonates with Gurnah’s critique of colonial history and his empathetic portrayal of refugee experiences.

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