Experiencing Trauma, Reflecting On Life: An Existential Reading Of The Traumatized Characters In Falling Man

Focusing on both victims and terrorists of the9/11attacks in DeLillo’s Falling Man,this study aims to interpret the existential state of the traumatized characters bymainly adopting existentialism supplemented by trauma theory. It exposes specificexistential crises manifested by those characters bearing trauma to different degrees,and illustrates signs in characters’ attempts to disengage themselves from theexistential crisis.The main body of this thesis is composed of three parts. The first part discussesthe social and cultural sources that generate people’s sense of existential crisis. Thenovel reveals a world fraught with hostility and irrationality. First of all, manydialogues in the novel explicitly express the characters’ thoughts about the worldsituation. Entangled conflicts between America and Islamic countries confrontAmerica with the terrorist threat, and so many American people’s sense of securityvanishes. Secondly, the negative effects of postmodern society lead to a universalfeeling of alienation among people, making their existential states gloomy. Thesecond part investigates concrete existential crises challenging traumatized characters.American victims with9/11trauma are encountered by existential crises such asdissociation or loss of selfhood as well as feelings of anxiety and distress. Moreover, ahijacker with traumatic experience lives in bad faith, which results in his existentialcrisis. The third part explores how characters cope with existential crisis in light ofexistential psychotherapy. By reconnecting with others and narrating stories, realizingone’s freedom and authenticity and facing up to the reality of death, the traumatized characters strive to usher in the transformation from living in existential crisis towardsthe direction of leading a meaningful life. A conclusion is then drawn that FallingMan is a therapeutic text that provides enlightenment for traumatized peoplestruggling with loss of meaning to reconstruct meaningful existence.