Cherishing Peace Forever

Dana Spiotta (1966—), an outstanding contemporary American writer, was awarded the2008-2009Joseph Brodsky Room Prize by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Eatthe Document (2006), Spiotta’s second novel, is thought-provoking by describing vividlyand profoundly the traumatic experiences of two indirect victims of the Vietnam War, HenryQuinn and Mary Whittaker. Till now, only book reviews and some comments are made onthe unique techniques used in the novel such as the “loose” structure, the tone and the style.Up to now in Mainland China there is only one thesis interpreting this novel available on theinternet or in the library, which is written by Zhao Qingguo from the perspective ofEco-feminism.What’s more, no one has ever analyzed the novel from the perspective of trauma theory.A careful reading of the novel reveals that it has much for exploration from the perspective oftrauma theory. Both of its main characters, Henry and Mary have clearly traumatic symptomssuch as hypervigilance, the intrusion of memories and avoidance. Therefore, this thesisattempts to offer an in-depth analysis of this novel from the perspective of trauma theory. Thisthesis firstly analyzes the traumatic symptoms as well as the traumatic effects on Henry andMary to find out the root cause of their trauma, namely the Vietnam War and then exploresthe reasons why Mary can work through her trauma in the end while Henry fails to recover. Inthe end, this thesis concludes that Spiotta not only condemns the cruelty of the Vietnam Warin her own way but also represents an effective way to work through trauma, recognizing andfacing it bravely.Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, this thesis consists of four chapters.Introduction provides a sketch of Spiotta’s life and her literary career as well as the novel’s main storyline. Then in detail a literature review of the novel both at home and abroadis presented. In addition, the significance of interpreting this novel from the perspective oftrauma theory is also elaborated in this part.Chapter One introduces trauma theory, including the origin and development of traumatheory, definition of trauma as well as traumatic symptoms and its effects. Psychologicaltrauma can not only cause a person to suffer traumatic symptoms but also cause physical andpsychological damage and overwhelm the victim’s ability to integrate self and maintainrelationships with others. The survivors of traumatic events often have some psychologicalsymptoms. If those traumatized people can not work through trauma, mental disorder willoccur.Chapter Two analyzes traumatic symptoms as well as the traumatic effects on Henry andMary. Henry and Mary suffer a lot and have demonstrated some typical symptoms of trauma,such as hypervigilance, intrusion of memories, etc. In addition, the traumatic events havestrong effects on them. Henry feels pain both physically and mentally and it then results in histragic death. Trusting nobody, Mary can become anyone but who she was and has a distortedrelationship with her son.Chapter Three explores the direct and root causes of Henry and Mary’s trauma. There aremany causes leading to their trauma such as Henry’s feeling guilty for doing nothing to stopthe war, being tortured by illness for such a long time, Mary’s becoming a fugitive, suddenlylosing her lover, being raped and being interrogated by her son, but the root cause is theVietnam War.Chapter Four explains the reason why Henry can not work through trauma while Maryfinally recovers from her trauma, concluding that recognizing and facing trauma bravely mayenable the traumatized to work through trauma.Conclusion summarizes the thesis, concluding that by interpreting Eat the Document from the perspective of trauma theory, a positive meaning in the novel can be revealed: itshows a way out for the traumatized, recognizing and facing trauma bravely. In addition, bytaking Henry and Mary’s traumatic experiences and sufferings as a mirror, Dana Spiottaimplies that the Vietnam War not only leads to the death of numerous people but also bringsabout serious psychological problems to people, which affects more than one generation.Spiotta also warns people not to wage a war and hopes that the world can be a peaceful andbeautiful one. The novel shows that it is wrong for people to start a war no matter what theirexcuse is because peace is needed for a happy life. Therefore, whenever and wherever, peaceshould be cherished forever.