Trauma And Recovery In Sophie's Choice

Since its publication in the year of 1979, Sophie's Choice by William Styron is widely read in the literature of the Holocaust. Some critics claim that Styron constructs the evil of the Holocaust through the traumatization of Sophie at Auschwitz, and presents a world full of evil. Some critics give their interpretations on its subjects of injustice, intolerance, hatred, and the struggle to survive based on theories of New Historicism, feminism, and narratology. And also a few critics have given psychoanalytic interpretations of dreams and personalities of the protagonists. Yet few critics have ever focused on the traumatic events that Styron presents in the novel. This thesis is to cover this research gap by giving a detailed exploration of these traumatic experiences in terms of trauma theory.With a theoretical structure based on psychoanalysis and trauma theory, this thesis is to examine traumatic events Sophie and Stingo experienced and work through the strikingly distinct fate of two protagonists to highlight the significance of three stages that Herman recommends:rebuilding the sense of safety, remembrance and mourning upon the traumatic events, and reconnection with the community. It also explores Styron's fictional healing methods that suffice for recovery.This thesis comes to a conclusion that Styron interprets the evil of the Holocaust by means of trauma and shows that people can recover from their traumatic events as long as they try to get a sense of safety, learn how to remember and mourn upon the past, set about to build a new self, and find the proper ways to give a testimony to the trauma that they underwent. Since its publication in the year of 1979, Sophie's Choice by William Styron is widely read in the literature of the Holocaust. Some critics claim that Styron constructs the evil of the Holocaust through the traumatization of Sophie at Auschwitz, and presents a world full of evil. Some critics give their interpretations based on theories of New Historicism, feminism, and narratology to discuss its subjects on injustice, intolerance, hatred, and the struggle to survive. And also a few critics have given psychoanalytic interpretations of dreams and personalities of the protagonists. Yet few critics have ever focused on the traumatic events that Styron presents in the novel. This thesis is to cover this research gap by giving a detailed exploration of these traumatic experiences in terms of trauma theory.With a theoretical structure based on psychoanalysis and trauma theory, this thesis is to examine traumatic events Sophie and Stingo experienced and work through the strikingly distinct fate of two protagonists to highlight the significance of three stages that Herman recommends:rebuilding the sense of safety, remembrance and mourning upon the traumatic events, and reconnection with the community. It also explores Styron's fictional healing methods that suffice for recovery.This thesis comes to a conclusion that Styron interprets the evil of the Holocaust by means of trauma and shows that people can recover from their traumatic events as long as they try to get a sense of safety, learn how to remember and mourn upon the past, set about to build a new self, and find the proper ways to give a testimony to the trauma that they underwent.