Trauma And Redemption

In the aftermath of the9/11terrorist attack, much of mainstream constructed patrioticnarrative of September11th. Reports and novels on attack could be heard and seen everywhere aswell as politician’s speeches.While most of Delillo’s writing focused on globalization,consumerism and cultural diversity, Falling Man, which was not simply the playback of thehorrible scenes, paid more attention to the day-to-day struggle of an American family as theygrappled with the trauma of September11th. The writer expressed his concern on trauma byportraying the the psychological impact and the process of seeking for relief of the maincharacters rather than the nature of the event and the judgement on it. It enables readers to gainbetter insights into the understanding of the historic event.With the support of trauma theories, including psychoanalysis from Freud and Rollo May,traumatic analysis from Herman and Caruth, the thesis is designed to explore traumatic andredemptive theme in Delillo’s Falling Man.Keith escaped the World Trade Center after the planes hit, however, he was notpsychologically affected on the scene. At a later time, traumatic memories were overwhelming inthe form of flashback, nightmare and delusion, what’s more, fragmented identity was harassinghim, giving Keith a sense of frightened, confused and anxiety. As a result, Keith isolated himselffrom others and indulged in gambling, which leaded him to impossible recovery. Thecatastrophic event affected not only thousands of people who were in the towers that day, butalso the countless others who watched it via media, primarily television. Lianne, Keith’s wife,though, not experiencing the accident herself, became a vicarious victim, which caused thetrauma of her father’s suicide to resurface. Lianne was trapped in double melancholia. By tellingher story and rebuilding her belief, Lianne moved to recovery.