“创伤治愈的失败”:“觉醒”女性死亡结局的必然性——以《觉醒》中的埃德娜和《秀拉》中的秀拉为例

"A Spell Cast by Trauma":The Determined Death of "Awakening"Women——Exemplified by Edna in The Awakening and Sula in Sula

自二十世纪以来,创伤理论被广泛应用到文学文本之中对创伤人物进行分析。多数作者对于创伤治愈的方法沿用朱迪斯·赫尔曼提出的三阶段治疗法,主要强调创伤幸存者应当直面过去,讲述自己的故事,并且同社会及他者建立联系。然而这种创伤治愈理论却给女性幸存者提出一个难题:“建立社会联系”是治愈创伤至关重要的一步,但“直面过去”后决定追求新自我的女性却常受社会的排斥,无法为新的自我争取生存空间。通过分析两部经典女性作品凯特·肖邦的《觉醒》和托尼·莫里森的《秀拉》之中埃德娜和秀拉两个人物的创伤重复、尝试自愈、必然失败的过程,更能形象地展现出女性追求创伤自愈的难题所在,指出创伤治愈理论对于幸存者本人的强调忽视了造成创伤的社会原因,有利于学者进一步完善创伤治愈理论。

Traumatic theory has been widely applied to the textual analysis of the characters since the 20^(th) century.In term of treatments,most scholars nowadays adopt the therapy of three-phases developed by Judith Herman,stressing the victim should face the past,tell the story out,and connect with others in the society.However,such theory lays a crucial dilemma for women victims:most traumatized women,while facing the repressed past bravely and pursuing a new self,turned out to be isolated by the society and forced to be divorced with the society,while the society plays such an irreplaceable role in treatment.Thus by analyzing the process of their unconsciously repeating traumatic events,effort of pursing a new self,and doomed failing of recovery,this essay has presented the dilemma for women victims to cure their trauma in the example of two characters:Edna in Chopin's The Awakening and Sula in Morrison's Sula.Pointing out that the present trauma treatment has the flaw of over-centering on victim's inner self-reintegration while neglecting the trauma-causing factors inhibit in the outer society may promote the further development of trauma theory.