An Analysis Of The Disadvantaged Groups In Haper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird From The Perspective Of Trauma

To Kill a Mockingbird is the representative work of the contemporary American female writer Harper Lee. From the perspective of the child Scout, taking the mysterious neighbor Boo Radley and the black person Tom Robinson’s unjust case as the clue, the novel shows the social life of southern America in the 1930 s. It attacks the selfishness, ugliness and hypocrisy of human nature, reveals the cruelty of family violence, patriarchal system, racism and social hierarchy, and expresses the author’s aspiration for eliminating social discrimination, establishing warm family and constructing an equal society.Based on the theory of trauma, the thesis explores four types of trauma experienced by the disadvantaged groups: children, women, the black and the marginalized white people and their different attitudes and responses to trauma.Thereby, it reveals the effective ways to recover from trauma and the author’s concern about the living condition of the disadvantaged groups in the society.The paper is mainly divided into four parts. Chapter One deals with the group of children, analyzing their familial trauma and response. Due to her father’s abuse,Mayella endures loneliness and makes an immoral response: she seduces a black young man to release her inner repression. The lack of parental love makes Dill feel doubtful and ashamed about his existence. By means of forming illusions and running away from home so as to escape from reality, Dill responds to his trauma in an evasive way. Without proper intergenerational communication between father and son,Jim becomes taciturn. Through eliminating misunderstandings and taking family responsibility, Jim gets recovery from his trauma.Chapter Two focuses on the female characters, analyzing the female trauma experienced by women in the patriarchal society and their response. Loss of male protection makes Helen fall into helplessness and fear. She submits to the power of men and becomes the voiceless victim of the patriarchal system. As a lady struggling in the contradiction between tradition and modern, Maudie is fettered in the cage offamily and chooses an evasive response of indulging herself in nature and children to relieve her loneliness. Confined by the southern lady tradition, Scout endures the criticism from conventional concepts and becomes bored with her female identity.Through seeking inner uprightness and honesty actively, Scout gets out of the shadow of trauma.Chapter Three centers on the black race and analyzes their racial trauma and response in the white society. In the white-dominated society, Tom is in a passive state:he is incapable of escaping the surveillance of the white and defending himself in face of the unjust punishment and eventually he dies miserably. Racial prejudice makes Calpurnia confused about her black identity, but through demonstrating the black virtues, she casts off her confusion and regains confidence about her race.Chapter Four focuses on the marginalized white people and analyses their social trauma and response. Oppressed by the social hierarchy system, Bob gives in to selfabandonment and attacks the more vulnerable people in a revengeful way so as to release his hatred for the society. Boo is disconnected from the community and is uglified by social rumors. However, he responds to trauma in a rewarding way and gets rid of his traumatic past as well as wins recognition and respect of the society.The thesis draws the conclusion that releasing resentment immorally, enduring pain voicelessly, escaping negatively and taking revenge unscrupulously are not effective means to help the victims recover from trauma. Only through positive and active responses with a rewarding attitude will the victims gradually go out of the shadow of trauma and obtain recovery.