Trauma Narratives In David Wong Louie’s Short Stories

David Wong Louie is an established Chinese American writer,whose published works are well-received by American readers.He is also deemed as one of the seven most important Chinese American writers by Chinese literary critics.This thesis probes into trauma narratives in David Wong Louie’s short stories.Through the theoretical support from major scholars of trauma such as Sigmund Freud and Dominick La Capra,this thesis aims to fully explore the traumas represented in David Wong Louie’s short stories by putting them into two categories: structural trauma and historical trauma.This thesis comprises of five parts;besides Introduction and Conclusion,the body of this thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter One and Chapter Two elaborate on the structural trauma and historical trauma in David Wong Louie’s short stories,including what they exactly are and how they are represented.Chapter Three explores the ways to recover from the trauma in David Wong Louie’s short stories,including the ways manifested in the short stories and the ways provided by the researcher.Through the analysis,this thesis contends that besides the structural trauma which frames the storylines,historical trauma caused by the Second World War,local wars and political turmoil permeates the stories,though less obviously represented through post-modernist techniques,causing great pain to the characters.As to the structural trauma in David Wong Louie’s short stories,this thesis contends that only when the protagonists brace their ethnic identity can they solve the problem of their alienation from the mainstream culture and their loved ones.This thesis also reveals David Wong Louie’s pacifist beliefs and his ruthless attack on inhuman cruelty inflicted upon innocent people.