A Study Of Trauma And Recovery Of The Main Characters In Philip Roth's Everyman

Philip Roth(1933-2018),one of the most influential,and prolific Jewish-American writers in American literature,was nominated for Nobel Prize for Literature several times and was hailed as one of the most popular writers.In his long literary career,Roth produced over thirty literary works since the publication of his first short story collection Goodbye,Columbus in 1959.Everyman is a representative work in Roth's later years.This novel tells the story of the protagonist's struggle against death throughout his life,and focuses on the themes of disease,aging and death,etc.Up to now,most studies concerning this novel focused on its themes like death,life dilemma,ethic,etc.However,the studies on the main characters' traumas in this novel are ignored to some extent.Therefore,this thesis makes an attempt to explore the main characters' traumas in Everyman from the perspective of Trauma Theory,including their traumatic experiences,traumatic symptoms,effects of trauma,and the recovery from trauma.With the theoretical foundation of Judith Herman's Trauma Theory,this thesis focuses on three main characters' traumatic events,traumatic symptoms and effects after they experienced traumatic events,and the recovery of these three characters.Firstly,this thesis presents three characters' traumatic events.What is more,this thesis analyzes three main characters' typical symptoms from the three main categories of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders,including hyperarousal,intrusion,and constriction.Besides,this thesis also analyzes the mental effects on three main characters after they experienced traumatic events.Finally,this thesis explores three main characters' different attempts at the recovery from trauma.It is found that the protagonist Everyman has completed these three stages of recovery through establishing the sense of safety,retelling and mourning the traumatic events,and reconnecting the relationship with the outside world.Everyman finally gets rid of the fear of death through these attempts at the three stages of recovery.While two other characters have not completed these three stages of the recovery.Therefore,this thesis draws the following conclusions: there is no absolute success or failure in the recovery from trauma.Establishing a connection with the outside world and striving for commonality with others are the critical stages of the recovery.Through the novel Everyman,it is found that Roth implies the universality of trauma in contemporary society.Trauma is not terrible,the process from trauma to the recovery is just like the process of becoming an“ordinary” person.The innovation of this thesis lies in that with the help of Trauma Theory,it analyzes three main characters' traumatic events,their traumatic symptoms and effects after they experienced those traumatic events,and it explores three main characters' different attempts at the recoveryfrom trauma.This thesis provides a new angle for researches on Philip Roth and Everyman.Hopefully,it would provide some ideas for the future research,and would provide help for the recovery of the traumatic patients in today's society.