Narrative and Trauma: An Analysis on Briony’s Traumatic Mind Tour in Atonement

Lingyi Cai

doi:10.54097/ajmss.v3i3.11087

Authors

Lingyi Cai

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/ajmss.v3i3.11087

Keywords:

Atonement, Unreliable Narration, U-shaped Narrative Structure, Trauma Theory

Abstract

On the basis of James Phelan’s unreliable narrative, Northrop Frye’s U-shaped narrative structure and Cathy Caruth’s Trauma theory, this paper studies Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize nominated novel Atonement and analyses the protagonist Briony’s behaviour responding to a traumatic experience and her efforts to heal the trauma. It provides readers with ways to help them get out of similar predicaments, and a new research perspective combining trauma theory with narratology for the interpretation of novels.

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References

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