A Study Of Trauma In William Styron’s Lie Down In Darkness

Set against the backdrop of World War II,the 20 th century American novelist William Styron’s debut novel,Lie Down in Darkness,tells what happened on the day of Peyton Loftis’ funeral in August 1945.Through the memories of several mourners,the author shows readers the story of a southern family over a period of half a century.Different from foreign and domestic interpretations on the novel’s background,intertextuality,theme,narrative,aesthetics,gender,culture,and Jungian psychoanalysis,this paper attempts to apply Judith Herman’s trauma theory to make a detailed analysis of the main characters’ trauma.It searches for the causes of their tragic destiny and the reasons of their unsuccessful trauma recovery.This paper intends to reveal the social status of American South after the Second World War,to excavate the significance of Styron’s writing,and to help people understand trauma and recover it.This paper includes five chapters.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to William Styron and his novel Lie Down in Darkness;a summary of the general research condition of Styron’s works and the specific research status of this novel at home and abroad;a demonstration of Judith Herman’s trauma theory.Then the feasibility and research significance of this thesis will be put forward.Chapter Two,Three and Four are the main body of this paper,which will respectively study the symptoms,causes and recovery of the main characters’ trauma in the novel.In view of specific trauma manifestations of main characters,the thesis will explore the impact of living environment and personal factors on them and the reasons for their failure of trauma recovery.Chapter Five is the conclusion part,which will sum up the formation,development and results of trauma in Lie Down in Darkness,and investigate the main idea that William Styron wants to express,simultaneously helping people recover from trauma and smile at life.The research results of this thesis are summarized as follows.Initially,the main characters in the novel were blighted by symptoms of hyperarousal,intrusion,constriction,confusion,avoidance and suicide.Secondly,their trauma stemmed from turbulent social background,inharmonious family environment,and inevitable personal factors.Finally,they failed to recover from trauma due to the incapability to establish a safe environment,the lack of healing relationship and the inability to find the faith of life.Through the perspective of trauma theory,the thesis excavates the connotation of the novel: the whole novel appeals for world peace and family love,wishing people to live in love and hope.At the same time,the thesis encourages the traumatized to reconcile with trauma with an optimistic attitude,not to be afraid of setbacks,to heal all troubles in the world with love,and to embrace a bright future.