Colonial Traumas And Their Recoveries In Waiting For The Barbarians

Trauma writing runs through Coetzee’s works. The traumatic theme of Coetzee’s works cannot be separated from the unique historical and cultural context of South Africa. Based on this background, Coetzee writes the traumatic experiences of the people. Although there are no color descriptions in Waiting for the Barbarians, it has two sides: the Empire and the barbarians. The Empire is in the power peak, it enjoys all the political discursive power and economic resources. But the barbarians live a long time at the bottom of the society; they suffer from discrimination in politics,economy, social life and other aspects. During the expansion of the Empire, the people are suffering from the trauma which the Empire causes. Based on colonial and trauma theories, this thesis proceeds with an analysis of the colonial traumas and trauma recoveries of characters referred to in the novel. Then it concludes that no matter collective trauma or individual trauma, they can be partially cured. However, it is difficult for the traumatized people to work through trauma. Even today, the traumas the Empire causes still remain.The body of this thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One starts with a brief introduction to Coetzee and his literary achievements and his famous novel Waiting for the Barbarians. Chapter Two is literature review, which consists of domestic studies and international studies. Chapter Three is theoretical framework. It introduces the theories used in this thesis. Chapter Four is a detailed analysis of traumas in the novel. It contains individual trauma and collective trauma. The thesis gives detailed analysis of the two kinds of traumas. The discussion of these traumas is not only psychological, the thesis also discusses the physical aspect. Chapter Five discusses trauma recovery of the characters. It consists of two parts: the recovery of collective trauma and individual trauma and its recovery. In this chapter, the thesis uses trauma recovery theories to discuss the cases. Chapter Six is the conclusion, which summarizes the contents of the whole thesis.