A Study Of The Protagonists’ Trauma In Ian McEwan’s Atonement And Saturday

As one of the most prolific and highly acclaimed writers in Contemporary Britishliterary circle, Ian McEwan presents his works with well-designed plot,carefully-chosen diction and in-depth meaning. Among all his works, Atonement andSaturday are two representatives. Despite different narrative time and characterdepiction, the two works reveal McEwan s in-depth thinking on individual choicesand moral issues. Focusing on Atonement and Saturday, this thesis intends to explorethe influence of trauma on protagonists self-examination and ethic meditation in lightof Dominic LaCapra s historical and structural trauma.The thesis is divided into six chapters:The opening chapter introduces achievements of Ian McEwan and the two targetworks Atonement and Saturday. Chapter Two briefly presents trauma theory andelaborates on LaCapra s distinction between historical trauma and structural trauma.Chapter Three studies the historical traumas in these two works. The outwardhistorical events and protagonists individual experiences are compared and examinedin detail. Chapter Four works on the shadows of structural trauma on protagonistsemotions and lives. Dealing with their impassive traumas respectively, Chapter Fiveelaborates on how the two protagonists reexamine themselves and revalue humanityand morality through writing novels and participating in operation respectively. Basedon the reading of Atonement and Saturday through traumatic point of view, theConclusion of this thesis points out: the two protagonists in McEwan s worksexperience different kinds of traumas, but instead of suffering the traumatic effectspassively, they work on the positive ways of coping with traumas. Meanwhile, it isthe positive dealing with trauma that help them to get rid of egoism and aloofness, andto gain a brand new view towards self and society.