Clarice Starling's Trauma In The Silence Of The Lambs

Thomas Harris(1940-), an American novelist, screenwriter and playwright, is well known for his works of suspense and thrill, and the novel The Silence of the Lambs is his representative work. The book was published in 1988 and became a great success. The unique work has been considered to be one of the masterpieces that profoundly reflect the crimes of the American society in the 20th century. The film The Silence of the Lambs, based on the novel, was released on 1992 Christmas Eve. It caused a great sensation and greatly enhanced the reputation of the writer. With more and more critics and scholars focusing their attention on the novel as well as the film, The Silence of the Lambs has become one of the most fascinating topics of academic study.The previous critics have probed into this film and the novel from various perspectives. They have discussed the structure of the work, the crimes it reflects, the characterization and the art etc. A few critics have researched into this novel from Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, discussing the characteristics, the thrill and horror in the work. There has not been an adequate attention paid to Clarice Starling's trauma in this novel. This thesis endeavors to interpret the novel by the application of the trauma theory—how Starling was traumatizes physically and psychologically and how she tries to get rid of it.This thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.The opening part mainly gives a brief introduction to Thomas Harris and his work The Silence of the Lambs and a review of the studies carried on of the novel.Chapter one is mainly concerned about the trauma theory, giving an account of the definition of trauma, the symptoms of trauma, traumatic effects on the traumatized and the presentation of the relation between trauma and literary activity, the combination of which provides a theoretical framework for the following chapters. Chapter two concentrates on Clarice Starling's traumatic symptoms and the effects of trauma on her. Her father died when she was in her childhood. Her mother, unable to afford to raise the three children, was forced to send her to her aunt's home. When she lived with her aunt, one morning she suddenly heard the screaming of the lamb that was being slaughtered. She made a decision to take it away, but she failed, and she began to live in an orphanage as well. From then on, the screaming sound of the lamb has never stopped at night. Therefore, Starling frequently experiences a series of traumatic events. She often unconsciously reexperiences the intrusive and repetitive images, thoughts and feelings. Those experiences are so horrible that she suffers a great deal both in body and in mind. She tries her best to avoid anything or anyone that will remind her of the traumatic experiences. Psychologically, she feels indelibly guilty for living due to the death of her father and started to bear the stamp of trauma in her childhood.Chapter three mainly concentrates on Starling's recovery. Symptoms of trauma and their effects fill her with pain; she endeavors to recover from trauma by means of seeking the lost love from her father by means of study and work. On the one hand, in Starling's memories of her childhood, she consciously or unconsciously uses the situation that the lambs were killed to conceal the deeper and traumatic experience that her father died. The basic impression of her father is a fuzzy image in Starling's memory. In the process of her growth, when she was in difficulties, she tries her best to find out the inherent shelter of the father and to rummage the one who can replace the role of the father in real life. For Starling, the process of looking for the killer Bill seems to be the process of seeking the father in a certain sense. On the other hand, though she first fails in the examination because she desperately works in the daytime and at night, she successfully completes her studies with persistence and confidence. At the same time, she gets rid of the sense of guilt by means of making every effort to save the daughter of the senator. Ultimately, she successfully recovers from trauma. The conclusion gives a summary of the whole thesis. What is more, it points out the theme of the novel. Thomas Harris implies that the evil is universal and the sense of guilt caused by the evil may have destructive effects on individuals. At the same time, he also shows his humanistic concern: people should be aware of the evil and make every effort to confront it and get rid of trauma.