A Study On Saul Bellow’s Novels From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

From the perspective of traumatic criticism, the purpose of this thesis is to study Saul Bellow’s three novels, namely Seize the Day, Mr.Sammler’s Planet and The Bellarosa Connection. The thesis is divided into three chapters:1. Seize the Day:Mourning Jewish Racial Trauma of Triple Space;2. Mr. Sammler’s Planet:Witnessing Trauma;3. The Bellarosa Connection:Traumatic Memories and Oblivion. All of the discussions elaborate on what Saul Bellow contemplates on the racial trauma.The theme of Seize the Day mourns modern Jews’ racial trauma:the Diaspora, the Holocaust, and the loss of Jewishness. The vagrancy of three generations, as represented by Wilhelm, the hero of the novella, his father Doctor Adler and his grandfather, metaphorically mourns the diaspora of the European Jews since modern times. Mourning for the Holocaust is not only reflected in the date associated with the Holocaust, but also in the protagonist’s suffering and the images in related to the murder of the Jews. Mourning the loss of Jewishness is mainly manifested in the loss of the Jewish religion and Jewish identity. In the era of the post-holocaust, the loss of the Jewish identity refers to the event that Jews gradually discarded circumcision and Jewish traditional folk culture. In a sense, the diaspora and the Holocaust mourn Jewish past history of trauma; Assimilated Jews mourn the loss of Jewishness for American Jews. The former is to deport and even destroy the Jews in the body’s level, while the latter is in the spiritual level. Both play the same important role in destroying the Jewish identity.The writing of the Holocaust in the works of Saul Bellow is always a hot topic of trauma theory. Mr. Sammler’s Planet witnessed the truth about the slaughtered Jews from Mr. Sammler’s perspective. Through Mr. Sammler’s fearing of the subway, the grave, the images associated with the Holocaust, the novel tells about the traumatic story of Mr. Sammler as the holocaustal victim and witness. The reason why the Holocaust is unknown to the world for a long time is not only because of the German Nazi fascist’s blocking and controlling the news in those days, but also because of these victims and the Jews’keeping silence about the event. In order to avoid the holocaustal tragedy, we not only need to overcome violence with violence, but also need forgiveness. Although there are a lot of ways to heal the victims, rebuilding their values is perhaps one of the most important methods.The theme of The Bellarosa Connection is to think about the memory and forgetfulness about the writing of Jewish racial trauma. As a reflective novel, it analyzes the repressed trauma and demonstrates the phantom of the traumatic which afflicts Sorella and the anonymous narrator. Through describing the inhibition and dissemination of traumatic memories, The Bellarosa Connection dialectically reflects on the relation between traumatic memories and oblivion. At the same time, the author describes a new trend of the Jew in the United States:the decline of faith in God and the rising of secular belief.