How to Recognize Trauma in the Present

There is this heartbreaking scene in John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden. Cyrus' birthday is coming up and Charles has saved up and bought a German pocket knife for his dad. But just as that moment comes in the dinner, Adam pulls out a gift that he's given to their dad. He didn't even bother to buy it. It was just something that he found. And often this type of trauma is so subtle that it is hard to recognize or name it as trauma.