A Study Of Jamaica Kincaid's Trauma Writing

Jamaica Kincaid,who is an outstanding Antigua-American writer,has contributed so many excellent works to West Indian literature.Kincaid is the representative of “writing from the edge to center”,and most of her works are concerned with the themes of “trauma” and “pursuit for self-identity”.Lucy and My Brother,which are two novels on the basis of experience of Kincaid,are praised by many scholars for their concise writing and profound connotation.Based on Judith Herman's trauma theory,this thesis gives a detailed analysis to trauma symptoms of the protagonists in the two novels.It attempts to find the underlying causes of their trauma.Taking the special geographical location and complex cultural backgrounds of Caribbean into account,the protagonists' trauma mainly results from abnormal family environment and influence from society including colonial oppression,gender discrimination and racial discrimination.Then the recovery processes of the protagonists are discussed and it can be found that the protagonist Lucy successfully achieves the processes of trauma recovery and starts a new life.On the contrary,the protagonist Devon in My Brother fails in the trauma recovery due to his incurable illness and inability to reconstruct self-identity.By means of trauma writing,Kincaid endeavors to depict a real condition of the Caribs in the context of post-colonialism.Through the traumatic analysis of the two novels,this thesis aims to explore the trauma theme in Kincaid's novels and arouse people's more attention to Caribbean community.