A Traumatic Study Of Clara Maugham In Jerusalem The Golden

Margaret Drabble(1939-),one of the best-known contemporary female writers in Britain,is famous for the realistic novel writing,and has composed novels,literary reviews as well as biographies and so on.Jerusalem the Golden,published in 1967,has attracted much attention and won the Tait Black Memorial Prize.Scholars have mainly focused on Clara Maugham’s pursuit of self-identity,ethics idea and moral choice.However,the novel also clearly reflects the psychological trauma that Clara Maugham suffers in the process of growth.Therefore,based on the theory of trauma and recovery,the thesis aims to analyze symptoms of the trauma that Clara Maugham suffers during her growth,explore the causes of Clara Maugham’s trauma,and reveal the efforts that Clara Maugham has made in order to recover from the trauma,which aims to provide a broader research perspective for Drabble’s novels.Based on the trauma theory,the main body of the thesis analyzes traumatic symptoms,causes and recovery of Clara Maugham.Firstly,it points out that traumatic symptoms manifested by Clara Maugham are her escape and the loss of the self.Secondly,it explores Clara Maugham’s traumatic causes from social background and family environment,supported by the combination of trauma theory and closing reading of the novel.Thirdly,it analyzes how Clara Maugham recovers from the trauma.Clara Maugham’s success of trauma recovery is mainly due to her establishment of social connections with the Denhams and reconciliation with the self.Although suffering great psychological trauma,Clara Maugham still yearns for true love and pursues romantic life.Eventually,Clara Maugham finds herself in the connection with others.At the moment her mother was dying,she begins to understand the true meaning of life so she reconciles with herself,and recovers from the trauma at last.There is the practical guiding significance by analyzing Clara Maugham’s trauma.Since modern intellectual women are faced with great stresses in their life and work.Through the analysis of Clara Maugham’s trauma,the thesis hopes to warn and encourage contemporary women to dominate their destiny,realize their self-worth and avoid psychological trauma.