An Analysis Of Look Homeward, Angel From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Thomas Wolfe was one of the greatest American writers in the 20 th century, as well as a well-known representative of the Lost Generation. His name is always in juxtaposition with Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald. Look Homeward, Angel is both the first and the most successful novel of Thomas Wolfe. The novel is an autobiographical one, and the protagonist Eugene is regarded as the author Wolfe himself and many characters can find prototypes in his life.The novel begins with Eugene’s birth and ends with his leaving home to Harvard, which mainly describes his inner growth and his gradually becoming mature through his life experiences. The author sets its background in the early 20 th century in America. During that period, American was experiencing its rapid development in Capitalism which had greatly changed people’s value ideation. Meanwhile, American had not only deeply experienced and realized the suffer and trauma brought by WWI but also the racial conflicts all around the United States. All in all, Eugene and his family as a miniature of the American society have represented the great suffering of trauma in the early 20 th century. Therefore, this thesis will analyze the novel from the perspective of trauma and will further study the symptoms, reasons and recovery of the characters’ trauma. The thesis is composed of five chapters.The first part introduces the author Thomas Wolfe, and his work Look Homeward, Angel. Then it summarizes the study abroad and at home and makes a statement of this thesis. Chapter One is theoretical foundation—trauma theory, which includes the definition, its development, trauma theory in literature field and its main aspects including symptoms and recovery. The second chapter analyzes the personal trauma of the protagonist and of other characters. In details, the paper will study Eugene’s growth in loneliness and in derision, his desperation in love, his depression caused by the death of Ben and his loss in self-identity. And then the paper further discusses Eugene’s father’s disillusion of American Dream, his mother’s greed for money, his sister’s hysteria of no-child after marriage and his family’s fear and anguish towards death. The third chapter analyzes the collective trauma reflected in the novel in the early 20 th century. The thesis analyzes people’s sense of unsafety brought by WWI, the racial discrimination between the white and the black, the persecution to the Jews and the loss of faith. The fourth chapter analyzes the reasons of their trauma from the aspects of history, society, family, personality and Wolfe’s individual experiences. The fifth part analyzes the recovery of the characters’ trauma—gaining help from others and reconnecting with the society, becoming a free and authentic individual and revolting against the racial discrimination. The last part concludes the application of trauma theory in reading Look Homewards, Angel. By applying the traumatic perspective, the thesis has provided a new point of view to analyze the novel.