An Exploration Of Fania’s Trauma In Amos Oz’s A Tale Of Love And Darkness

Since the announcement of the founding of Israel,various conflicts have broken out on this land,which has traumatized many people on both sides.Amos Oz is the most well-known Israeli writer who is good at conveying his peace claims through family stories.A Tale of Love and Darkness is created on Oz’s own experience,which tells the story of a Jewish family in a series of significant events,from anti-Semitism in eastern Europe to the founding of Israel since the Zionist movement initiated.Oz calls for peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by expressing the warmth,beauty,suffering and cruelty that have experienced by people in this controversial land.In 2015,prestige actress Natalie Portman adapted this work as her directorial debut.This thesis is an exploration of Fania’s trauma in A Tale of Love and Darkness,based on researches on Amos Oz and trauma studies in the West and China.The main contents consist of five parts.The Introduction mainly introduces Amos Oz and his work A Tale of Love and Darkness,literature review,and a brief overview of trauma studies,among which Judith Herman’s trauma theory is the primary theoretical basis of this thesis.Chapter One analyzes Fania’s three significant trauma symptoms,namely hyperarousal,intrusion and constriction.Chapter Two discusses the causes of Fania’s trauma,which is mainly the consequence of her unfortunate family-of-origin,antiSemitism and continuous war.Chapter Three unveils the profound connotation of Fania’s death.In addition to the dysfunctional recovery,she also has suffered the disillusionment of ideals in life,women’s status and Zionism.The Conclusion reviews the contents of the thesis and elaborates the academic value and practical significance of exploring Fania’s psychological trauma from the perspective of trauma theory.Fania’s death is not only the tragedy of herself but also reflects the unseen plight of many educated women.Through the exploration of Fania’s trauma,this thesis aims to stimulate readers’ deep thought on female trauma recovery.