Reading Saving Fish From Drowning From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Amy Tan(1952—) is one of the most outstanding Chinese American novelists. Her several long novels have received much attention and high praise from readers and have been translated into many foreign languages. Her Saving Fish from Drowning(2005), a ghost novel, is a great departure from her previous works. This novel can be regarded as her transition from an ethnic writer to a global writer, for in this novel she begins to break the boundary of ethnicity and think about the living existence of all human beings. By closely reading the novel and applying trauma theories to analyze the traumatic experiences of the main characters, Bibi Chen, Marlena Chu and Walter, this thesis makes further exploration on Amy tan’s deep thinking on the issues of love, family, society, culture, and history etc.Firstly, the Chinese American woman Bibi Chen’s childhood trauma is analyzed. The absence of birth mother and maltreatment of stepmother make Bibi lose the ability to love people, and show the traumatic symptom of emotional numbness. After her death, ghost Bibi works through her trauma by achieving sense of safety, telling traumatic stories, and connecting herself with the community. The traumatic experience of Bibi Chen reveals that understanding and forgiveness play significant roles in one’s recovery from trauma.Secondly, trauma of Marlena Chu, another Chinese American woman, is illustrated. As a female, Marlena suffers oppression from her father and her ex-husband. Later she shows the symptom of re-experiencing the traumatic event. Marlena faces trauma bravely, seeks independence, and finally frees herself from oppression of the patriarchal society. Marlena’s traumatic experience shows to us Amy Tan’s concern for Chinese women’ life in the American patriarchal society and her wish of men and women living together harmoniously.Thirdly, this thesis analyzes Walter’s transgenerational trauma. Walter and his family has been under the political oppression of the Burmese government. He lives in fear and often re-experiences his family tragedy. His attempts to walk out of trauma is a failure for the reason of the lack of a supportive environment. Undoubtedly, people who suffer from political persecution should try and seek freedom rather than wait for it. Only by doing so can they know what kind of life they would live and grasp their own destinies. Tan also seems to hold that both their own effort and assistance from the society are necessary in the process of their recovery. Besides, through the traumatic experience of Walter, we can see that, in the context of globalization, Amy Tan has begun to expand her vision to the sufferings of human beings and actively probed into global and political social issues.As to the theme of trauma, by analyzing the traumatic causes, traumatic symptoms of the three main characters portrayed by Amy Tan and the ways they try to work through their traumas, we can see that people can recover from trauma by means of achieving a sense of safety, telling the traumatic past, and reconnecting themselves with others. In other words, trauma victims should bravely face their traumas and the public should also show their love and sympathy and help trauma victims to work through trauma.