On The Trauma Of Abel In House Made Of Dawn

House Made of Dawn is a representative novel of N.Scott Momaday,who is one of the most influential writers in the world.It marks the revival of Native American literature.This novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969.It tells that the protagonist lost his way due to the impact of the Second World War and the white cultural ideology and he found himself back at last.Momaday truly presents the spiritual persecution of Native Americans under the political and historical background of the Second World War and Indian Termination Policy.Meanwhile,Momaday also recognizes the healing power of traditional Native culture for Native Americans and conveys the idea that Native Americans should cling to traditional culture by this novel.This thesis attempts to analyze the psychological trauma and the recovery of Abel,the protagonist of this novel,from psychological traumatic theory.The author explains respectively those abnormal behaviors of the protagonist as the typical traumatic symptoms: the repetition and repression of traumatic memory,the dissociation and disconnection with community,the passive and aggressive attitude towards the outside world.Besides,with the definition of traumatic event and the study on traumatic symptoms in this theory,the author of the thesis digs out the reasons which made the protagonist traumatized,that is,the persecution of the war and the whites’ superiority on Native Americans’ thoughts.Then the three steps of Judith Herman’s theory are adopted in the analysis of the protagonist’s traumatic recovery,that is,1.Establishing the patient’s safe relationship;2.Recalling the traumatic story;3.Reestablishing the connection with community.Finally,the author points out that the traumatic recovery must be based on a trusting relationship with others and the direct confrontation with traumatic event in conclusion.Reestablishing the connection with community the final step in the process of recovery reflects in a close connection with traditional culture for Native Americans.By a study on his trauma and recovery,this thesis reveals the persecution caused by the white society in 1940 s and the oppression brought by American government to Native Americans.Therefore,the return to traditional Native American culture is the reason of traumatic recovery and the destination of repressed Native Americans.