Trauma, Survival And Redemption

August Wilson (1945-2005) is one of the most important post-war Americanplaywrights. His epic-like "Pittsburgh Cycle", product of more than20years, consists often plays, each chronicling a specific decade of the20thcentury. These plays center on theblack experience and epitomize the nearly400years' history of the African-Americanexistence through their depiction and staging of relevant scenes in that century. Wilson'stheatrical achievement has attracted wide academic interest. The present dissertation aimsto make a thorough study of this ten-play cycle in terms of trauma dealt with therein.Drawing mainly on Freudian psycho-analytic approaches, Cathy Caruth's trauma study,and other trauma studies as made by Dominick LaCapra and some other scholarsconcerning the healing function of narrative, the dissertation examines the three majorthemes of Wilson's cycle, namely, trauma, survival and redemption. There are five chaptersaltogether:Chapter One is an introduction to and an analysis of, in the special interest of thosethemes, Wilson's life story, intellectual development and value orientation as well as hisliterary career, style and influences. It also examines the literature produced so far inWilson studies and introduces the research perspective, significance, innovations andcontents of this dissertation. Diverse insights produced in trauma study will beincorporated into the dissertation and provide its major theoretical inspiration.Chapter Two analyzes three kinds of trauma in Wilson's cycle (slavery trauma, racialtrauma and the trauma of the Great Migration) to see how these ten plays artisticallyrecapture traumas inflicted upon the black Americans in history. Wilson insists thatdescendents of slaves should face up to the history of their ancestors' enslavement. Of thishistory the story of the Loomises in Joe Turner's Come and Gone is a condensed metaphor,and it brings home to the audience that the slavery trauma lurks always in the African-American consciousness. Wilson holds that racial discrimination is foundeverywhere depriving the black Americans of equality and opportunity. Their talent isexploited and suffocated, and their dreams frustrated. The experiences of people in MaRainey's Black Bottom, especially the tragic ending of Levee, the protagonist, tellinglypoint to the devastating trauma affecting the African-Americans because of theinsurmountable racial boundary. To Wilson, the Great Migration is definitely a wrongmove. It uproots the black people from the southern black culture, and the attemptedtransplant is doomed to failure. The resulting sense of disillusionment and despair, asWilson's cycle shows, becomes the permeating sentiment in the black ghettos and in thepeople living there. In traumatic scenes relived in these plays, Wilson makes a differentvoice of history heard.Chapter Three, in the light of contemporary trauma study which discovers thehealing power narrative has in the blacks' recovery from their traumatic experiences,inquires into cultural strategies, including the blues, the black cultural rituals andstorytelling, which have brought the black people through traumas of different kinds. Theblues music is a constant element throughout the cycle. Its spiritual depth is explored andits significance to the survival of the African-Americans evaluated. It is the mode ofcommunication shared by Wilson's characters and helps heal their trauma, for through andin the blues they can speak the unspeakable and find hope in their hopeless life. Rituals,according to Wilson, constitute an inalienable part of the life of the black Americans. Inmany cases where black characters in Wilson's plays are set in difficult and traumatic lifesituations, it is rituals that give them strength to go on. These rituals, as Wilson sees them,are indispensable to the American black culture and provide a solid psychological stay forhis characters. As for storytelling, it is an art teaching the blacks how to survive. It isrooted in the black cultural tradition. In Fences, diverse aspects of black existence inAmerica are covered by the various stories recounted by Troy. Such storytelling gives ventto the hurt feelings of the blacks and meanwhile imparts to them strategies of survival, andthereby helps them stand up to the harrows and sorrows of their life in a hostile socialenvironment.Chapter Four focuses on the blacks' self-realization through self-redemption. Three aspects of the process are tackled here, i.e., the rejection of the white God, the guidance ofblack spiritual mentor and inspirations drawn from the spirit of black warriors. In Wilson'scycle, the God of the white people seldom has sympathy for the pains and sufferings of theblacks. Rather, he has a hand in the atrocities committed by the white oppressors.Self-redemption is thus the only way to self-realization for the blacks. Aunt Ester, the mostsignificant persona of the cycle by Wilson's own account, is the symbol of the race'scollective memory and wisdom as well as the incarnation of its self-esteem. It is AuntEster who shows the path to self-redemption to the blacks. Black warriors, Wilson isconvinced, are the hope and strength for the black self-realization. The persistentexploration and illustration of the warrior spirit in the cycle aims to demonstrate to thosecharacters exactly this point.Chapter Five offers my conclusion. All the historical representation of the blacktraumas in the cycle proceeds not from resentment but from Wilson's reflections uponcontemporary problems. It's to prevent the infliction of trauma not just upon the blacks butupon anyone indeed. The black culture has been a source of strength for the blacks in theirefforts to survive, but it belongs to all human beings. The history of this culture, howeverunique, can also be a source of inspiration for man's ongoing efforts to survive and make abetter world. Meanwhile, writing trauma is a way to acknowledge and overcome it so thatsuch trauma may not serve as a handy excuse for the blacks' self-abandonment. Enhancedinner strength and the warrior spirit, together with its power, courage, wit and sense ofresponsibility are what the blacks need for their self-redemption and self-realization. Theten plays of the cycle in depicting the black experiences become a depiction of man'sstruggle to survive and develop. Imbued with Wilson's deep concern for humanity as awhole, they transcend the racial barriers and acquire a universal significance.