A Study On The Brooklyn Follies From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

The Brooklyn Follies(2005)is one of the most important works of Paul Auster(1947-),an outstanding contemporary American writer.The novel depicts how some ordinary New Yorkers manage to recover from traumatic experiences after going through a sequence of traumatic events.The traumatic writing in the novel has attracted some scholars' attention,but there is no systematic study on it up to now,and the author 's humanistic concern and concerns on social problems that lie behind the traumatic writing are often neglected.The thesis intends to analyze the causes and influences of the traumatic experiences of the characters in the novel,further probe into Auster's criticism of social problems and the measures people can take to cope with and recover from traumatic events.The main body of the thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One analyzes the protagonists' traumatic experiences,unveiling the deep causes of the traumatic events.The traumatic events repeat compulsively in an unassimilated and incomprehensible way.The protagonists' traumatic events can be attributed to social problems such as family problems,money worship and sexism.Moreover,the human-made disasters like war and horror also threaten to put individuals under the risk of being traumatized.With these problems which are usually out of individual's comprehension prevailing in modern society,not only the characters in the novel but also common people like us might be in the risk of being traumatized.Chapter Two mainly deals with the negative influences of the traumatic experiences.In The Brooklyn Follies,nearly all the protagonists have got certain symptoms that can be referenced by PTSD(posttraumatic stress disorder)diagnosis,such as intrusions of traumatic memories and avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic events.The traumatic events influence not only the victims' psychological intactness but also their basic human relationships with other people,further shattering their construction of self that is formed and sustained in relation to others.Tortured by the negative influences of the traumatic experiences,the protagonists live in depression,helplessness and solitude for a while.Chapter Three focuses on the protagonists' recovery from their traumatic past.The protagonists' recovery from traumas can be summarized in three stages:establishing sense of safety with the affection and care from family members and friends,connecting the past with the present in a meaningful way through talking or writing in detail and in depth,and reconnecting with ordinary life through building connections with others.In the process of recovery,the protagonists get a deeper understanding of themselves,their family and the whole society.The Brooklyn Follies reflects Paul Auster's great concerns on social problems and human existence in modern American society.The probability that everyone might be traumatized any time indicates the seriousness of the social problems.The miserable life of the traumatized demonstrates the necessity to show solicitude for traumatic victims and the social problems leading to traumatic events.The measures taken by the protagonists are the approaches proposed by Auster for people faced with various social problems in modern society to deal with their daily dilemmas and reconnect with an ordinary life.