earticle

영어

This paper is to study Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child through family trauma. According to E. Ann Kaplan, the family trauma is trauma of loss, abandonment, rejection and betrayal related to whatever the accidents are about. Deidre Barrett points out that the family trauma is related to common events that are potentially or inevitably encountered in the course of a normal life. The family trauma, which is called common or quiet trauma, can be dramatic and soul-destroying. In The Fifth Child, Ben is rejected by his parents as well as his siblings because of his unique appearance and personality. He is said to be a throwback, who might find his place in a primitive era, not in a modern society. In fact, he looks like a troll, shows anger whenever he is banned from doing what he wants, roars to show his discontent and, what is worse, is suspected of killing animals. The problem is that his family cannot accept him as their family member, nor does he get into the family. However, he makes friends with dropouts from school and becomes a leader of the group that is sure to hang around the back streets. He seems to be a shadow/dwarf, where, as Lorelei Cederstrom argues it, the family projects qualities they do not wish to see in themselves. Therefore, Ben terrorizes them as they are not ready to confront him while with a sense of alienation the family makes Ben feel frightened and moreover insensitive to the sufferings of others.