A Study On Female Characters’ Traumas In Missing Mom

Joyce Carol Oates(1938-)is one of the most famous American contemporary female writers.Most of her works reflect various aspects of American society with the realistic characteristics,for which she is regarded as a writer with a strong sense of social responsibility.Meanwhile,Oates is also a writer of psychological realism.She is bold in presenting people’s fear,anxiety and worries.Her psychological description is meticulous and distinctive to present the flesh-and-blood characters in her writings.In Missing Mom,Oates’ another masterpiece,published in 2005,Oates described the profound mother-daughter relationship among three females of two generations.One prominent characteristic of Missing Mom is Oates’ meticulous psychological description.Although the researchers from home and abroad have studied Missing Mom from different perspectives,little research has been done from the perspective of trauma theory.This thesis attempts to analyze three females’ traumas in Missing Mom by using the trauma theory.It mainly examines their traumas from three aspects,including symptoms,causes of and recovery from trauma.This thesis is composed of six chapters.Chapter One generally introduces Oates’ life experience,literary creation,and literature review on Oates and Missing Mom at home and abroad as well as a structure preview of this thesis.Chapter Two reviews the development of trauma theory,symptoms of and recovery from trauma.Chapter Three discusses three female characters’ physical and mental symptoms of traumas.Chapter Four mainly analyzes the causes of trauma in the life experiences of Gwen,Clare and Nikki.The violent events and patriarchal domination are two main causes of their traumas.Chapter Five discusses three female characters’ ways of recovery from trauma.They did not lose their confidence to live on and to recover in their own ways.Chapter Six draws a conclusion that the explicit and implicit violence can both impact people’s physical and psychological world.The external help and initiative of traumatized persons are both significant for the recovery from trauma.By applying the trauma theory to analyze Missing Mom,this thesis tries to provide readers with a different perspective of understanding Missing Mom and to expand the dimension in relating the trauma theory to the literary text.