A Study On Billy Sing From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Ouyang Yu is a distinguished Chinese-Australian novelist,poet and translator.He has published a large number of works which have drawn attention from literary scholars in both China and Australia.Therefore,critics from China and other countries have tried to analyse his works from different perspectives.Scholars including Wenche Ommundsen,Huang Zhong and Chen Beibei have explored issues such as race,gender,and cultural identity in Ouyang’s work.However,there has been no scholarly analysis of his recent English novel Billy Sing（2017）.This novel,which is told in the first-person,talks about the protagonist Billy Sing’s unfortunate experiences in Australia.Combining a detailed textual analysis with trauma theory,the thesis conducts a comprehensive study of Billy Sing’s trauma including his traumatic experiences,symptoms and attempts to recover from trauma to help readers gain a better comprehension of the novel and the author’s motive for writing this book.The first chapter discusses the unfortunate events that Sing encountered in his life and analyzes how they traumatized him.First,during his childhood,Sing was always discriminated against and mistreated by people around him due to his Chinese origin.Second,he joined World War I as an Anzac soldier.He was wounded both physically and mentally during the war.Finally,the loss of love and break-up of his marriage dealt him a heavy blow.In the second chapter,the thesis focuses on the symptoms of Sing’s trauma.The intrusion of the traumatic memories was embodied by Sing’s hallucinations and nightmares.In order to avoid negative feelings,he became isolated and desperate.Besides,with increased anxiety caused by trauma,he became very irritable and aggressive once reminded of his traumatic experiences.The last chapter examines Sing’s attempts to recover from trauma and the reasons why they all failed.Firstly,he tried to re-establish the sense of safety by means of studying hard at school and building up confidence in his racial and cultural identity.Secondly,he resorted to retelling his traumatic memories.Moreover,Sing made efforts to reconnect to the community by joining a cricket team at school,joining the army,and going back to China through a dream.However,none of these attempts worked at last.In the conclusion,in relation to Ouyang Yu’s own unfortunate experience in Australia,the thesis argues that,through the novel,Ouyang Yu attempts to heal both Billy Sing’s and his own trauma,which showcases the healing power of literature.Moreover,he has exposed the harm of discrimination against Chinese people in Australia,and reminded readers of Chinese Australians’ sacrifice in World War I,as well as their significant contributions to Australian society.