Trauma Writing In John Updike's Terrorist

John Updike is a famous American novelist and poet.The genres of his works are diverse.His 22 nd novel is Terrorist,published in 2006.The novel has received extensive attentions from the critics.This work from the perspective of the terrorists,describes the growth process of an 18-year-old American teenager Ahmad Mulloy.Ahmad sticks to his own belief,honest and kind,but because of lack of paternal love and mother's irresponsibility,he becomes a terrorist to bomb Lincoln tunnel misguided by the terrorists.In recent years,many critics and scholars at home and abroad have researched this novel from the perspective of the themes of the September 11,feminism and writing techniques on suspense endings,etc.But the works which study Terrorists from the viewpoint of trauma theory are few.This thesis from the perspective of trauma theory,analyzes the protagonist and other characters' psychological traumas from family,school,marriage and identity crisis,aims to show psychological trauma has a profound effect on the individuals and it is caused by multi-cultural social environment and loss of faith,thus making people have a more profound understanding of the root causes of terrorism.That is,social,political,economic,historical and cultural causes.The thesis consists of five parts.The introduction part introduces John Updike's life and the content of Terrorists and the research reviews on Terrorists,and illustrates the development of trauma theory,including the previous and contemporary basic concepts.Chapter One analyzes the individuals' traumatic events in family and school,taking the protagonist's experiences for example,which is reflected in lack of paternal love,mother's irresponsibility and traumatic life in school.These traumatic experiences lead the protagonist to become a terrorist.Chapter Two describes the individuals' traumas caused by marriage life and love experience.Taking Teresa and Jack as the main clues,it narrates the traumatic experiences of Teresa's pain in marriage and Jack's desire for life.Though they don't become terrorists,they are hurt psychologically with different levels,which shows trauma is universal.Chapter Three discusses the individuals' identity crisis caused by multi-racial living environment and the loss of faith.Finally,it summarizes the whole thesis and points out the realistic significance of this work.