| Bernard Malamud, one of the famous Jewish-American writers in modern American literature, had created marvelous works from his own Jewish pasts which was filled with sufferings and endurances and gained tremendous responses from the readers. Malamud’s The Fixer was published in1966and it told a traumatic story based on the true Mendel Beilis case in Russia. Many researchers have cast light on his novel The Assistant (1957) and the studies on The Fixer seem relatively insufficient. Researches on traumas in The Fixer are not comprehensive because they focus on themes, rhetorical devices and images, the trend of American Jewish literature and other aspects. Therefore, the thesis adopts the trauma theory to analyze the traumatic features in Malamud’s The Fixer.The thesis gives an introduction to the Malamud’s life, his literary achievements, the main characters and the plot of The Fixer. After summarizing the foreign and domestic researches on The Fixer, the thesis underlines the significance of analyzing the traumatic features in this novel. Meanwhile, the thesis also gives systematic presentations to trauma theory from Caruth and Herman and the traumatic features applied in the following parts. Those traumatic features include the causes of Yakov’s trauma, traumatic symptoms and the stages of recovery in The Fixer. First, the causes of trauma are dug as the political aspect and family aspect. And the psychological traumas in the Jewish people in the atmosphere of anti-Semitism are also addressed. Second, the thesis illustrates Yakov’s traumatic symptoms according to the division of the post-traumatic system disorder as hyperarousal, intrusion and constriction. The descriptions of traumatic symptoms not only reflect the cruelness of anti-Semitism, but also show Malamud’s sympathy for the poor Jewish people. Third, the thesis talks over the recovery stages of trauma through the principles of empowerment and reconnection. Though Yakov does not recovery from trauma completely for the revenge fantasy, Malamud still emphasizes the importance of positive support from the public and appeals to the people to rebel against the anti-Semitism. Based on the comprehensive and systematic study described above, the thesis gets total analyses of traumas in protagonist as well as in Jewish people and finally achieves the conclusion: Malamud’s The Fixer not only guides readers to learn a fascinating story about a Jewish under persecutions, but also helps them totally understand the trauma from the causes of trauma, traumatic symptoms and the stages of recovery. The Fixer also shows Malamud’s sympathy for the poor Jewish people and his appeal to the people to rebel against the anti-Semitism and his universal feelings. |
