A Study Of The Characters' Trauma In Falling Man From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Don DeLillo is one of the most prolific writers in contemporary American literary world.He has been one of the hottest candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature in recent years.He received the National Book Awards in 1985 and the Jerusalem Prize in 1999.Falling Man was published in 2007.The novel recounts the story of Keith,a lawyer working in the World Trade Center,who escaped from 9/11 terrorist attacks and then,lived with his estranged wife Lianne and his son Justin again.In a new life with his family,the protagonist who has returned to the normal life seemed to be unable to get rid of the traumatic nightmare.Finally,he immersed himself to be a gambler.Falling Man has been extensively studied,including the use of post-modernism,archetype theory,and existentialism to interpret the effects of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the public from different perspectives.Other previous trauma interpretations did not pay too much attention to the victims' efforts in trying to get out of trauma.Based on trauma theory,this thesis analyzes the victims' trauma experiences and their trauma symptoms after the catastrophe.The focus is on how the traumatized people get out of trauma after the disaster.By demonstrating the different ways adopted by the victims and the different results after the terrorist attacks when facing trauma and the new life,it is extremely crucial to obtain the methods to work through trauma.There are five chapters in this thesis.Chapter One gives an introduction to the novel,the author DeLillo,trauma theory and its development.The second chaptermainly dissertates the direct and indirect victims' trauma experiences of 9/11 terrorist attacks.It tries to show the victims' traumatized process.The third chapter analyzes the characters' trauma symptoms in the novel.From their trauma symptoms,it can be observed that the victims suffered from trauma.The fourth chapter expounds that the traumatized people do their best to work through trauma.Although working through trauma does not mean getting out of it,there is hope that the victims can get out of trauma.The direct and indirect victims work through trauma in different ways in the meantime they get different results.The final chapter concludes that the pain of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the people are indelible,and what we really need to face is how the traumatized people walk out of trauma and move on to new life after trauma.The reconstruction of damaged buildings after the disaster is definitely important,but what's more important is,the reconstruction of the traumatized people's minds is essential.It is also noticeable to find the right and appropriate ways to guide the victims.