On The Postcolonial Trauma Of The Modern Singaporeans In Fistful Of Colours

English has gradually and actually become the national language of Singapore, despite whose multiracial and multicultural background. As a matter of fact, Singapore English literature has played a key and essential role in Singapore literature. Among the abundant excellent writers of Singapore English literature, Suchen Christine Lim is the most distinguished and prominent one. Ms. Lim has published five novels, one nonfiction work, six short stories and one play. Written in English, most of her works whose themes focus on the region, language, identity and history have won numerous literary prizes. Specifically, in2012, she was selected for Southeast Asian Writers Award (Singapore), a prestigious award for poets and writers of Southeast Asia, not only for her considerable impact on Singapore English literature, but also for her sustained contribution to exploring the hidden side of Singapore history, which is not written in official history books. Consequently, her works are the typical texts which can contribute to the study of the postcolonial trauma of the modern Singaporeans caused by the colonial history. However, scholars at home have paid far more attention to Singapore Chinese literature than Singapore English literature and the research of Ms. Lim and her works in the last decade have been in its infancy, most of which are brief introductions of her works rather than academic studies. In addition, its foreign research mainly focuses on the fourth novel of Ms. Lim, A Bit of Earth, instead of her other works. The publication of her third novel, Fistful of Colours, which awarded the inaugural Singapore Literature Prize (Fiction) in1992, aroused little interest from the scholars who mainly focused on the female initiation theme of the heroine Suwen in the novel from the perspective of feminist criticism. However, the study pays little attention on the trauma of the females experienced during the postcolonial period as well as its profound impact on their life. Moreover, the large part of narration in the novel centered on the colonial history of Singapore rather than the feminist group is also ignored.This paper will analyze the novel by applying the theory of postcolonial trauma, especially the relevant research by Frantz Fanon. Firstly, the narrator will elaborated on the symptoms of postcolonial trauma of the modern Singaporeans, which is presented in the aspects of language, history and identity; secondly, the thesis places enough emphasis on the analysis of the cause and origin of its formation, which is inherited from their ancestors, the first immigrants of Singapore who has experienced colonial trauma during the British colony era, such as colonial war, economic pressure and discrimination from the colonists. Through the previous exploration, it is found that the colonial trauma has not been healed with since the independence of Singapore but evolved into the postcolonial trauma which has a prolonged influence on the next generation, the modern Singaporeans. Lastly, the narrator will point out the therapy of recovery to help the modern Singaporeans rebuild self-identities and step out of the shadow of the postcolonial trauma by interpreting the two successful examples of introspection and communication suggested by the author in the novel.