An Analysis Of People Of The Whale From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Linda Hogan is a famous contemporary American Indian writer,whose works show strong spirit of realism.As a spokesman of native people,she not only pays attention to the survival of tribal men under the clash between the mainstream western cultural ideology and the tribal ideology but she also holds that returning to Indian traditional culture plays an important role in solving the tribal predicament.People of the Whale,published in 2008,is Linda Hogan’s latest novel.Transcending the tribal geographical layout to the Vietnam War,it mainly narrates that Thomas,who participated in the war,and his wife Ruth suffered different trauma but finally recovered from it.This dissertation applies trauma theory to mainly analyze the trauma of Thomas and Ruth from trauma symptoms,trauma causes and trauma recovery.According to the definition of trauma and traumatic events,it firstly describes their trauma symptoms on physiological level,cognitive level,emotional level and behavioral level.On the behavioral level,Thomas isolated himself from others;On the cognitive level,he suffered nightmare and flashback to repeat his bad memory;On the emotional level,Ruth sank into endless loneliness and deep sorrow;On the physiological level,she suffered insomnia.Then the dissertation expounds that Thomas’ s trauma was caused by the war and the dissolution of the whaling ritual.However,Ruth’s trauma was caused by the departure of Thomas,corrupted tribal men and the death of Marco.At last,according to three stages of recovery from trauma by Judith Herman,Thomas got recovered through establishing a sense of safety,mourning the traumatic experience,narration and returning to nature and community,while Rut got recovered by taking the positive attitude towards life and forgiveness.By analyzing the trauma of the two protagonists in People of the Whale,the dissertation aims at deepening the understanding of the content of the novel as well as the intention of the author.What’s more,the interpretation of trauma causes and trauma recovery of the two main characters in the novel embodies the author’s humanism and the practical meaning of the work.