Trauma And Recovery Of Ann Roger In Exposure

Kathryn Harrison, as a fruitful but controversial contemporary writer, has gained large popularity. With works in various genres, what impresses readers the most are her works relating to childhood abuse presented through her crafted writing skills and those works somehow are reflections of her unpleasant childhood experiences in her uncaring and detached family, in which her deformed incestuous relationship with her father was fostered. One of her such works titled Exposure is the focus of this thesis.Based on trauma theories of Cathy Caruth, Judith Herman and some related trauma theorists, this thesis is devoted to exploring Ann Roger’s tragic life attributed to her childhood trauma whose aftermath persists into her adulthood. Apart from the introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of three parts: The first part illustrates the trauma story of Ann, including the trauma origins of Ann, Ann’s trauma symptoms represented in both her childhood and adult life, and the trauma narrative skills adopted by Kathryn Harrison for the purpose of accessing to the unspeakable trauma story. The second part focuses on how Ann survives from her childhood trauma through psychological adaptations contributing to the formation of Ann’s deformed psyche, which inevitably made Ann maladaptive for her more complicated adult life and doomed for her tragic life. The third part searches for the attempts Ann made to recover from her trauma and the main reasons why she fails with the understanding of the difficulty but possibility of recovery.