The Enigmatic Lineaments betwixt Life and Death: Posttraumatic Growth in Thomas Pierce’s The Afterlives (2018)

A novel about Jim Byrd, a loan officer who dies of a heart attack at thirty-three, has a near-death experience without tunnels or white lights, and afterward senses ghosts and messages from the afterlife. The work analyzes Jim's experience using the five factors of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory to estimate positive outcomes of his trauma and to question whether he grasps the true meaning of life and death.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Thomas Pierce’s poignant debut novel The Afterlives (2018) premises that God sometimes reincarnates someone in order to give them a second chance – a second chance to ponder life, explore and connect with other people, and question why they exist. The novel tells the story of every man Jim Byrd, a loan officer who suffers a heart attack at age thirty-three. During his fatal cardiac arrest, Jim sees neither tunnels nor white lights—thus begins his journey of exploring and delving into the unknown. Jim’s near-death experience allows him to sense the existence of the paranormal, such as ghosts and messages from the afterlife. This study analyses Jim’s near-death experience and its after-effects via the five factors of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). The inventory is a measuring scale of how successful traumatised persons cope with their crisis. The aim of applying this scale is to estimate the positive outcomes of Jim’s involvement in trauma and question whether Jim was able to understand the true meaning of life and death.