On The Theme Of Trauma In Tim O’Brien’s July, July

Spanning from1964to1975, the Vietnam War is the most significant oversea-intervention in the history of the United States. The war experiences forced American soldiers to realize that there was almost no justice or glory except cruel killing. What’s more, America has paid heavy cost for the Vietnam War. A considerable part of American soldiers had suffered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since they were in Vietnam, and then the survived ones brought their nightmares to their families. Therefore, during several decades of the aftermath, some Americans were still covered by a shadow of the war. In this sense, more and more people began to think about the meaning of the war. Their thinking brought about American literature of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War literature includes poems, novels,(auto) biographies, plays and memoirs, etc. Among these works, novels have the dominant effect and stand in the highest literary position in the Vietnam War literature, such as Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July and Robert Stone’s Dog Soldiers are comparatively more influential. Among the Vietnam War novelists, however, the most famous one is Tim O’Brien.Since the release of If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me up and Ship Me Home in1973till the publication of the latest novel July, July in2002, Tim O’Brien has published eight novels in total. The thesis attempts to interpret the theme of trauma in July, July. Under the directions of psychoanalysts and psychologists, this thesis endeavors to connect three kinds of symptoms of PTSD with the psychic conditions of characters from July, July through the analysis of their experiences and psychological reactions, as well as historical facts and research data.There are three parts of the thesis:introduction, body, and conclusion. The first part is the first chapter, and it covers a brief introduction of the Vietnam War, American Vietnam War novels, Tim O’Brien and his position in American literature, literature review of his works, the themes and features of the author’s works, and the layout of this thesis.The body part consists of three chapters. Each chapter chooses one symptom from PTSD and analyzes two representative characters in the novel..Chapter Two focuses on the reexperiencing of the traumatic memories of David Todd and Ellie Abbott, showing how the two were bothered by bad feelings.Chapter Three represents the second symptom---the constrictive symptom by traumatic events. David Todd and Spook Spinelli both use silence to defense the effect from their traumatic events, and refuse to talk or remember anything about the trauma.Chapter Four puts emphasis on the third symptom of hyperarousal through the analysis of anger or hatred of David Todd and Billy McMann. Both of them suffered a lot from the war.As it is introduced above, David Todd is the only character throughout the three chapter because David’s symptoms are the most typical, enduring and severe as he is the only one who has been to the Vietnam War.The last part, which is a conclusion of the whole thesis, points out the theme of trauma in July, July. From the individual narration of their own traumatic stories, the thesis reveals a picture of collective trauma of postwar American society, which is presented by Tim O’Brien, as well as the possibility of healing of trauma. The thesis aims to show O’Brien’s criticism of the Vietnam War and full view of American people’s good and happy life.