Intergenerational Trauma And Ethical Predicament

August: Osage County is a three-act tragicomedy in which Tracy Letts presents the predicament of American families.This realistic drama continues the tradition of family plays in American theatre history,telling about an intricate story among members of a dysfunctional family.This play not only helps Letts win three awards including the Tony Award(2008),the Pulitzer Prize(2008)and the Drama Critics' Circle Award(2008),but also enables him to achieve great commercial success.It is with this work that Letts becomes a compelling playwright in the United States,and has established his position as one of the most important American playwrights.On the basis of trauma theories,the thesis mainly interprets the ethical predicament faced by the characters who have been severely affected by intergenerational traumas in August: Osage County.First of all,the thesis analyzes the symptoms,the causes and the transmission patterns of intergenerational trauma in the Weston family,and elaborates the mechanism of the transmission from the previous generation to the offspring;secondly,the thesis points out the ethical after-effects of intergenerational trauma in the Weston family,and argues that due to the dysfunction of ethical order and the absence of ethical identity,family members encounter the ethical predicament again;at last,after a survey of the ethical choices made by the main characters the author contends that a harmonious and happy family is constituted on a healthy ethical environment,and all the members of a family should bear ethical responsibility consistent with their identity.On the basis of the above analysis,the thesis concludes that the ethical predicament of the Weston family is the result of the intergenerational transmission of trauma within the family.However,as the intergenerational trauma has exerted considerable influence on the individuals,the family and even the society,the characters in this play eventually fail to recover from the trauma and get out of the ethical predicament.Therefore,August: Osage County is not only an excellent American family play which possesses a universal value of application,but also has the function of moral instruction.Through the research,the author hopes to arouse the whole society's concern for intergenerational trauma,and its harm to personal development,family ethics and social harmony,thus seeking timely countermeasures to heal trauma and get out of the predicament.