An Analysis Of Character Trauma In Little Fires Everywhere From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Celeste Ng is known as the Chinese American writer who conquered the European and American literary circles.Her novel,Little Fires Everywhere,won the title of Novel of the Year in 2017.In the work,Celeste Ng presents the characters’ traumatic experiences.Trauma research in Europe and America has developed into an interdisciplinary research in the 1990 s after more than 100 years’ development.The application of trauma theory to literary works is helpful to reflect on grief or regret and explore ways to avoid trauma.Based on the trauma theory of Cathy Caruth and Judith Herman,this thesis analyzes the symptoms,reasons and ways to get out of the trauma of the characters in the novel.Through the analysis of this thesis,it is found that different classes have different trauma symptoms and ways of trauma recovery.The trauma symptom of Richardson’s family from the upper class is constriction.The symptom of Mia’s family from the lower class is intrusion.For Bebe,as “Others”,the symptom is hyperarousal.For the ways of trauma recovery,it can be founded that the upper class mainly relieves trauma by retrospect and mourning,the lower class is more accustomed to overcoming trauma by establishing security,while “others” relies more on rebuilding relationship.In addition,while interpreting the text,this thesis also actively explores the main characters’ methods to avoid trauma.For upper class,they affirm identity and get rid of confusion.For lower class,they open mind and integrate into society.For “others”,they identify native culture and build a sense of belonging and security.This thesis analyzes the characters’ trauma in the novel by trauma theory and provides a new perspective to better understand the novel and the deep meaning behind the author’s writing.