An Interpretation Of Trauma Of Southern Bellesin The Plays Of Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams,one of the most outstanding playwrights in American drama.He vividly depicts a gallery of traumatized southern belles in his plays.These disappointed and delicate women southern belles are distinctive examples who are tremendously traumatized by the southern culture and tradition.Based on trauma theory,this paper explores Williams’s traumatized southern belles of his three works of The Glass Menagerie,The Streetcar Named Desire and Summer and Smoke,providing a comparatively novel angle for readers to understand Williams and his plays,which is conducive to exploring the value of his works.The paper consists of three chapters.The first chapter gives an analysis of their traumatic symptoms after their traumatic experiences that run parallel with Herman’s classification of traumatic disorders-hyperarousal,intrusion and constriction.Then the second chapter explores the underlying causes of these traumatic southern belles.The study demonstrates that these southern belles’ traumas are resulted from social,familial and personal factors.The third chapter delves into their efforts to recover from trauma,which include the establishment of safety,remembrance and mourning of traumatic experiences and reconnection with ordinary life.By delving into the very mystery of the trauma of Williams’s southern belles,the following conclusions can be drawn.For one thing,the three plays demonstrate the common dilemma confronted by these southern belles.For another,Williams shows great sympathy for these pitiful southern bells.The study not only inspires people to attach importance to female psychological trauma and the causes of trauma,but also explores ways for contemporary women to struggle out of trauma get rid of confinements,and secure their self-consciousness,hoping to offer some references and inspiration for them to bravely recover from trauma.