A Study Of Female Characters In The Sweetest Dream From The Perspective Of Trauma Theories

As the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2007,famous British female writer Doris Lessing occupies a great and distinctive position in the world’s literature history.A number of studies have been done on Doris Lessing and her works ever since her first novel The Grass is Singing was published in the year 1950.Most of the researchers approach her early works from a variety of angles and perspectives,but few take her relatively new novel The Sweetest Dream as their focus,not to say studying the novel from the perspective of trauma theories.Therefore,in light of related trauma theories,this thesis attempts to analyze the psychology and actions of the three women in different generations in The Sweetest Dream.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,this thesis consists of three parts: part one is an analysis of the causes of the traumas of the women of three generations in the Lennox family: the grandmother Julia’s trauma stems from the brutal wars,especially the two world wars;the daughter-in-law Frances’ s trauma originates from her failed and troublesome marriage;and the step-granddaughter Sylvia’s trauma is caused by her family,which includes her lack of father’s love and being abused and neglected by her mother.Part two focuses on the symptoms of the traumas reflected on these three women.And part three expounds the efforts of the three women in working through their traumas.Through the comparison of Julia’s and Frances’ s recovering from their traumas and Sylvia’s not recovering from her trauma in The Sweetest Dream,this thesis concludes that traumas generated in childhood hurt worse than traumas originated from adulthood.And the trauma-recovery in Lessing’s writing implies her concern and retrospection about the current situation of women,as well as her hoping of arousing the universal attention on women’s trauma.