An Analysis Of Khaled Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Khaled Hosseini is a well-known Afghan-American writer.And the Mountains Echoed is his latest work.The novel takes the separation of Abdullah and his sister Pari as the main line and presents the sorrows and joys among three generations of Pari's family.According to the researches about the novel,domestic and foreign scholars have mainly analyzed it from the perspectives of narratology,literary ethics,identity theory and so on,but few studies have been conducted in light of trauma theory.In view of this,this thesis will interpret the three typical characters(Abdullah,Pari and Nila)in the novel.Combining the trauma theory with this work can better reveal characters' personality and manifest the themes of the novel.Guided by trauma theory,this thesis mainly interprets the work from three aspects:traumatic causes,traumatic symptoms and recovery from trauma.The thesis firstly analyzes the traumatic causes of three characters.The study shows that three protagonists' traumas are mainly caused by their broken families.Then it explores their traumatic symptoms after experiencing traumatic events.The main traumatic symptoms of Abdullah are avoidance and intrusion.Pari's main traumatic symptoms include flashbacks,confusion and sense of guilt.Nila has two kinds of traumatic symptoms:constriction and suicide.After that,this thesis explores the recovery process of these three characters.Based on the above analysis,a conclusion can be drawn: Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed is a typical trauma novel which highlights the glory of family and emphasizes the great importance of a complete family for a person's healthy growth.Khaled Hosseini and this work intend to arouse people's attention to the traumatized and to stimulate the public's attention to family integrity.By describing the characters' recovery from trauma,the book also provides effective trauma recovery ways.