无法愈合的伤口《最蓝的眼睛》中佩科拉的创伤研究

1   Introduction 

Toni Morrison is the first African-American female writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature, and she has created a profound impact on American literature. Her novel The Bluest  Eye  has  aroused  extensive  concern  at  home  and  abroad  since  its  publication.  This chapter tells us the life story and main works of Toni Morrison, and then there is also a brief introduction  to  The  Bluest  Eye.  In  addition,  the  systematic  literature  review  and  the significance of the thesis are also presented in this chapter.

1.1   Introduction to Toni Morrison and Her Works 
As a great African-American woman writer, Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, an industrial center, on 1931. She was the first black woman writer who received the Nobel Prize in the history of American literature in 1993. Toni Morrison grew up in a working-class family. In  order  to  escape  the  devastation  of  racism,  her  family  migrated  from  South  to  the  North when she was very young. Under the influence of her parents’ experiences about racism and the traditional African American folktales, she realized the existence of racial injustice, and gradually formed a strong political consciousness about the situation of the black people on the edge of the society. Toni Morrison received her bachelor degree from Howard University in 1953, and then she continued her postgraduate studies at Cornell University, where she obtained an M.A. in 1955.  Afterwards,  Toni  Morrison  became  a  university  teacher, and  she  taught  English.  She worked  at Texas  Southern  University in  Houston  during  the  first  two  years,  and  then  she taught at Howard for seven years. As a member of an informal group of writers at Howard University, Morison began to write fiction. She married a Jamaican architect in 1958, and they had two children, but finally divorced in 1964. She worked as an editor after the break up of her marriage. As an editor, Morrison made a great contribution to bring black literature into the mainstream. Toni Morrison’s works mainly depicted the African-Americans’ history, legends and real life.  Both  the  use  of  narrative  technologies  and  the  ideological  content  promote  the  black novel  to  a  new  height.  She  is  not  only  familiar  with  the  Bible,  the  black  folklore  and  the Greek  mythology,  but  also  influenced  by  the  characteristics  of  Western  classical  literature. Toni  Morrison’s  fictions  are  her  main  literary  achievements,  and  her  works  are  emotionally intense, short and poetic. These works not only reflect the political and economic oppression that  the  black  people  have  suffered,  but  also  reveal  the  inner  feelings  of  the  marginalized African-Americans. 
...........

1.2   A Brief Introduction to The Bluest Eye   
The  Bluest  Eye  is  Toni  Morrison’s  first  novel.  It  depicts  a  tragic  story  of  an eleven-year-old black girl, Pecola Breedlove. The story took place in Lorain, Ohio during the period  of  the  dominant  white  culture.  The  little  black  girl  was  born  in  a  poor,  violent  and indifferent  family,  there  are  four  family  members  including  her  father  Cholly,  her  mother Pauline, her brother Sam and herself. Pecola’s father is a violent and abusive alcoholic, and he never offers Pecola any comfort or support. Pecola’s mother is a servant in a tidy and orderly white  family.  She  always  holds  the  opinion  that  Pecola’s  plain  appearance  is  incapable  of deserving  her  love;  therefore,  Pecola  was  often  neglected  and  abused  by  her  mother.  In addition to the unhappy family, she was constently ridiculed by her classmates in school, and alienated by her neighbors in the black community. For  herself,  Pecola  does  not  satisfy  with  her own appearance; she always believes that she  is  not  attractive  because  all  the  people  around  her  regard  the  white  as  the  standard  of beauty. Consequently, the little black girl ascribes all her misery to her ugly appearance and not having blue eyes. And she believes that if she had a pair of blue eyes, she would obtain more love from her parents and her destiny would be totally transformed. Unfortunately,  her  beautiful  dream  and  the  ugly  reality  come  into  collision.  It  was  a spring  afternoon,  an  unexpected  thing  happened.  Cholly  went  home  after  drinking  a  lot  of alcohol, he found only Pecola was at home at that time, and then he raped her own daughter Pecola.  Afterwards,  Pecola  was  pregnant,  and  she  was  expelled  from  school.  In  order  to escape from the miserable reality, Pecola became more and more eager to have a pair of blue eyes  after  suffering  a  series  of  injury  events.  So  she  turned  to  a  pastor,  Soaphead,  and requested him to give her a pair of blue eyes. However, he deceived Pecola. The liar pastor promised Pecola to realize her wish, but there was  a  prerequisite  that Pecola  must  perform. Soaphead  wanted  to  get  rid  of  a  sick  dog  for  long;  therefore,  he  gave  Pecola  a  piece  of poisonous meat to feed the dog. Then, the dog painfully struggled after eating the poisonous meat  and  eventually  died.  Pecola  was  extremely  scared  after  witnessing  the  whole  thing. Having suffered a series of terrible events, Cholly’s incestuous rape and the disillusion of her dream, Pecola finally got into madness. It is the sharp contrast between her beautiful dream and the afflicting reality that leads to Pecola’s mental disorder. Living in her own mad world, Pecola believed that she has achieved the beautiful dream with a pair of the bluest eyes in the end.  
..........

2   Theoretical Foundations

2.1   Introduction to Trauma Theory 
Trauma,  as  its  name  implies,  obviously  refers  to  a  kind  of  pain.  The  word  previously originated from a Greek word, which means the injury or the wound to one’s body. Gradually, the  concept  of  trauma  can  also  refer  to  a  psychological  damage  as  a  result  of  a  strong emotional blow. According to the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, trauma is regarded as the wound of the mind, and it is a kind of sudden stimulation. The primary characteristic of trauma is its complete unpredictability. As he said in his book, trauma is not like the wound of the body, a simple and healable event, but rather an event that is experienced too soon, too unexpectedly,  to  be  fully  known  and  is  therefore  not  available  to  consciousness  until  it imposes  itself  again,  repeatedly,  in  the  nightmares  and  repetitive  actions  of  the survivors.(Freud 38)    Trauma theory was emerged in the early 1990s. The American scholar Cathy Caruth in her monograph Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, History has put forward this term for the first time. In its most general definition, trauma describes an overwhelming experience of sudden or catastrophic events in which the response to the event occurs in the often delayed, uncontrolled, repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other  intrusive  phenomena.  (Cathy Caruth 1996)    For  the  present  study,  many  experts  and  scholars  have  explored  a  new  and  deeper understanding  of  trauma.  Webster’s  Third  New  International  Dictionary  of  the  English Language Unabridged has concluded a detailed explanation about the definition of trauma. It refers to an injury or wound to a living body caused by the application of external force or violence; a psychological or emotional stress or blow that may produce disordered feelings or behaviors, and the state or condition of mental or emotional shock produced by such a stress or by a physical injury. 
.........

2.2   The Symptom of Trauma 
In  1994,  American  Psychiatric  Association  indicated  that  the  traumatic  event  is considerable  severe  and  it  can  present  an  intense  threat  to  one’s  life.  Such  traumatic experience  could  refer  to  either  personal  experience  or  witnesses  from  others.  Generally,  a traumatic  event  can  be  a  single  experience  as  well  as  repeating  events.  Such  events  can completely  overwhelm  the  individual’s  capacity  to  cope  with  or  integrate  the  emotions  and feelings related to that experience. The consciousness of being shocked can be delayed by weeks, years, even decades. After a person undergoing some traumatic events, the traumatic experiences could influence all his life. Such traumatic sufferings can result in indelible effects on the human mind, and alter the essence of individual’s memory, self-identification, and relationships with the people around him. After suffering some traumatic events, the human system of self-preservation seems to be in a situation of permanent defense, as if the harm and injury might return at any moment. Some  researchers  indicate  that  the  traumatic  experiences  can  also  appear  as  a  result  of individual’s  own  behavior  or  the  failure  of  the  fulfillment  of  his  unconscious  wishes. Confronted with a traumatic experience, there will be a big change to a person. For instance, the way of thinking and learning, the way of remembering things, the way of feeling about himself and other people, and the way of perceiving the world is all completely altered. Under the influence of the traumatic events, people will suffer from symptoms of trauma. In general, the symptoms of trauma mean the re-experience of the traumatic things. It can be reflected in many circumstances such as the flashbacks and nightmares, avoidance of touching off everything associated with the traumatic experience that happened in the past, as well as the generating of negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, strangeness, anger, astonishment, hyper vigilance, horror, grief, compunction, and so on. All the symptoms can be discovered from time to time; even worse, such reactions will be persistent for the whole life. 
.........

3   Pecola’s Trauma and Her Symptoms ..... 14 
3.1   Pecola’s Traumatic Events ....... 14 
3.1.1   Racial Discrimination from the White People ....... 14 
3.1.2   Rejection from the Black Community ........... 16 
3.1.3   Destruction from the Domestic Violence ....... 18 
3.2   Pecola’s Traumatic Symptoms ......... 21 
3.2.1   Sense of Isolation and Helplessness ....... 21 
3.2.2   Self-identity Crisis .......... 24 
3.2.3   Psychological Fragmentation ......... 25 
4   Pecola’s Recovery and Reasons of Her Failure ..... 27 
4.1   Pecola’s Recovery from Trauma ...... 27 
4.1.1   The Establishment of Security ....... 27 
4.1.2   The Communication with Others ........... 29 
4.1.3   The Recreation of Self-identity ...... 30 
4.2   Reasons of Pecola’s Failure in the Recovery ........... 32 
4.2.1   Indifferent Black Community ........ 32 
4.2.2   Dysfunctional Domestic Environment ........... 34 
4.2.3   Distorted Self-perception ....... 36 
5.   Conclusion ........ 38 

4   Pecola’s Recovery and Reasons of Her Failure 

The traumatic events can usually lead to an incurable wound. After suffering traumatic events,  most  victims  attempt  to  recover  from  trauma.  The  possibility  of  recovery  mainly depends  on  whether  the  victims  can  successfully  deal  with  the  mental  disturbance.  The psychological trauma is associated with the victim’s objective experience. Most victims have undergone serious damage from traumatic events; however, the different treatment of trauma can result in different results. Many traumatic victims can’t successfully work through trauma, because  they  don’t  have  a  harmonious  family  environment,  a  good  relationship  with  the society,  and  a  proper  self-identity  and  self-esteem.  In  the  end  of  the  novel,  the  protagonist Pecola  failed  in  the  process  of  recovering  from  trauma,  finally,  she  is  driven  into  madness. The reason why she can’t work through trauma is closely associated with the indifferent black community, her dysfunctional domestic environment, as well as her distorted self-perception. 

4.1   Pecola’s Recovery from Trauma 
Although Morrison in her novel describes only one year’s life of the protagonist Pecola, we can still realize the process of her transition from repulsion to passive acceptance in front of  the  racial  trauma.  After  undergoing  the  traumatic  experience,  Pecola  attempts  to  recover from trauma. Therefore, the establishment of the sense of security is the first step for her. In the second step, Pecola needs to reconstruct a new relationship with others; in the third step, she needs to recreate a new self-identity. However, the poor girl can only obtain the sense of security  from  others  temporarily;  she  can’t  get  recovery  from  the  trauma  of  racial discrimination.  In  addition,  the  black  girl  will  never  possess  the  blue  eyes,  and  her  black identity will never be altered, either. Therefore, she can not recover from her trauma, all her efforts is inevitably doomed to be futile. 
...........

Conclusion

Toni Morrison is the first African American woman writer who received the Nobel Prize for  Literature  in  1993.  Morrison  has  created  a profound  impact  on  American  literature,  and she is regarded as one of the most prominent novelists in the world. As a black woman living in  the  white-dominated  society,  Morrison  herself  has  suffered  the  racial  discrimination  and alienation  from  the  white  people.  She  witnesses  the  miserable  life  of  the  black  people,  and especially  pays  attention  to  the  terrible  life  of  the  black  women.  Morrison  shows  her sympathy  and  support  for  the  blacks,  therefore,  she  begins  to  devote  all  her  emotion  and consolation to her novels. The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first fiction which is published in 1970. In the novel, the protagonist Pecola is a little black girl. She undergoes a series of terrible events from both her family and the outside world. Pecola is discriminated by the white people, and rejected by the black community. However, she can not find any love, concern, consolation and support from  her  own  family.  She  attributes  all  the  humiliation  and  rejection  to  her  black  skin. Therefore, she pins all her hope on possessing a pair of blue eyes. In the end, Pecola’s dream of blue eyes does not come true, and she falls into her own mad world. This thesis attempts to study the novel from the perspective of trauma theory. Through analyzing Pecola’s traumatic events, the traumatic symptoms, the recovery from trauma, and the reasons of Pecola’s failure in recovery, we can get a deeper understanding of this novel from a new perspective. In the novel, the heroine Pecola undergoes a series of traumatic events, such as the racial discrimination  from  white  people  and  the  rejection  from  the  black  community.  She  can  not obtain equal treatment in the society which is overwhelmingly dominated by the white culture. Unfortunately,  living  in  a  violent  and  indifferent  family,  Pecola  can  not  obtain  love  and concern.  The  poor  black  girl  suffers  a  lot  of  trauma  from  her  indifferent  mother  and  her violent  father.  Her  father’s  incestuous  rape  gives  Pecola  a  fatal  blow  which  leads  to  her psychological fragmentation.  
.........
The reference (omitted)