Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part D (2024)

This paper explores the literary portrayal of student mental health, examining how fiction reflects and refracts psychological distress, identity struggles, and institutional pressures within academic environments. Drawing from key texts such as The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, and selected contemporary young adult fiction (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Darius the Great Is Not Okay), the study conducts a qualitative textual analysis informed by psychoanalytic, trauma, and affect theory. These texts serve as narrative case studies, revealing recurring motifs such as isolation, anxiety, alienation, and the search for self-amidst rigid academic and social structures. By integrating a literary-critical lens with mental health discourse, the research underscores how literature gives shape and language to invisible psychological suffering, particularly within student populations. Attention is also given to the intersectionality of gender, class, and culture, which mediate the experience and representation of mental illness in literature. The analysis further highlights the narrative techniques—fragmented narration, stream-of-consciousness, and interior monologue—that authors use to convey psychological realism and emotional complexity. Ultimately, the paper argues that literature functions as both a mirror and a map of the student psyche, offering insight into individual and collective struggles with mental health.