Trauma Effects In Wonderland

Joyce Carol Oates (1938—), one of the most illustrious American writers,shows her particular interest in modern people’s spiritual suffering in the world fullof violence and harm. Wonderland is one of her works expressing such theme. Thisnovel depicts the protagonist Jesse’s and other characters’ torturous struggles againsttrauma effects as they fail to get rid of them.Herein evolves the theme of the present thesis—the exploration of thespringhead for the characters’ irresistible agony in the violent world by investigatingthe various trauma effects due to the different traumatic roles as a traumatic victim,victimizer and witness in Wonderland within the frame work of trauma theory ofCathy Caruth and so on.The introduction of the thesis, first of all, mainly outlines the literary status ofJoyce Carol Oates and her works, the major features during different stages of herwriting and valuates and concludes the latest research achievements of the criticismon Wonderland. After that, the development of Caruth’s trauma theory is expounded.Chapter one mainly investigates the spiritual shock and physical and psychologicalsuppression resulting from the social turbulence and domestic violence in order todemonstrate the main causes of the characters’ traumas. Chapter two focuses on thecharacters’ trauma effects which are systematically classified and illustratedaccording to the different traumatic roles like traumatic victim, victimizer andwitness. Chapter three analyzes the possible ways to alleviate trauma effects with theexplanation of the aftermath of characters’ denial of such methods. The last part ofthe dissertation concludes that the traumatic reading of Oates’s fiction Wonderlandprovides a viable explanation to the springhead for the characters’ irresistibletrapping in the mire of agony.