A Study Of Harold Fry's Trauma In The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry

Trauma study developed to an interdisciplinary study in the 1990 s.Trauma theory is used to interpret cultural and ethical connotations of trauma.Trauma theorists endeavor to reveal the close relation between literary criticism and trauma theory.According to the understanding of trauma by American trauma theorist Cathy Caruth: the traumatic event has not been completely experienced when it happens,but has been belated,which haunts in the mind of the traumatized.Being traumatized is controlled by an image or an event.Trauma has the characteristics of belatedness and afterwardness;it is uncontrolled by the individual and it exerts a lingering influence on the traumatized repetitively and intrusively.In addition,only in the repetition of belatedness can trauma be totally experienced.The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by the British female writer Rachel Joyce tells the story of an old traumatized man who successfully achieves the healing of his trauma through a seemingly unlikely pilgrimage.The protagonist Harold Fry makes a promise to his friend and begins a six hundred miles' journey of crossing England in eighty-seven days.This thesis studies the trauma of the Harold Fry through the combination of the textual close reading and the relevant trauma theory.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,including three parts,each of which briefly introduces the author Rachel Joyce and her works,literature review,and the layout of the thesis respectively.The second chapter including two parts explores the causes of Fry's trauma from the aspects of Fry's tragic childhood and misfortunes of his family and career in his mid-age.The third chapter discusses the symptoms of Fry's trauma at spiritual and behavioral levels.The forth chapter with two parts analyzes the process and result of the healing of Fry's trauma,namely his pilgrimage,with the first part analyzing the process and the second the result.The fifth chapter is the conclusion,which concludes the findings of this thesis.The pilgrimage of Harold is actually a journey of self-redemption and self-atonement and he has successfully cured his trauma after the pilgrimage.Meanwhile,the conclusion also puts forward the limitations of the thesis and further studies of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry as well.