Trauma And Recovery:Research On Toni Morrison’s Novel Home Under Trauma Theory

Toni Morrison(1931-)is widely considered as one of the most significant female black novelists in the 1970 s.Her work includes some of the most engaging contributions to American literature in the last hundred years.Up to now,Morrison has published 11 novels,of which,Home(2012)tells the story of Frank Money,an African-American veteran,who struggles against trauma and racism to rescue his medically abused sister and works through identity-shattering memories.After the publication of the novel,many scholars at home and abroad have conducted research on the novel from various aspects,including narratology,culture,new historicism,racism,etc.However,only a few scholars at home and abroad have studied this novel from the perspective of trauma theory.Besides,there have not been many theses discussing Morrison’s novels from the perspective of trauma theory.The purpose of this thesis is to study Morrison’s Home under the guide of trauma theory.The thesis is composed of introduction,literature review,the main body and conclusion,of which the main body includes three chapters.It briefly presents the author and her main works firstly.Then it makes a general survey of literature review on Home,including the review at abroad and in China.Then the development of trauma theory and definition of trauma will also be presented.In the main part,the paper tries to analyze the war trauma,social trauma,family trauma and gender trauma that Frank and Cee experienced.The symptoms,such as the nightmare,flashback and intrusion will also be analyzed.Then the recovery methods will be given.In conclusion,it will be pointed out that the traumatized black people should face the trauma bravely.It is necessary for them to return to their own black community to seek for their identities.Only by doing this can trauma be recovered.