郑州工业应用技术学院

毕业论文

2025年5月5日

A Study on the Tragic Causes of the Protagonist in Light in August from the Perspective of Trauma Theory
创伤理论视角下八月光中主人公悲剧原因的研究

by Xia Wenwen
作者 XiaWenwen

A Thesis
论文

Submitted to the School of Foreign Languages of
提交给外国语学院

Zhengzhou University of Industrial Technology
郑州工业技术大学

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement
部分满足要求

for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
文学士

in the Subject of Literature
在文学学科中

Supervised by
监督机构

Zhang Xichang
张希昌

May, 2025
五月， 2025

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摘要

《八月之光》是美国作家威廉·福克纳于1932年发表的长篇小说^[16]，讲述了一个背景为20世纪初期美国南方密西西比州的虚构小镇杰弗逊镇上发生的故事。故事中的主人公乔·克里斯默斯因美国多元文化背景下的文化冲突和家庭矛盾受到巨大创伤并导致其悲惨命运。

本文以福克纳长篇小说《八月之光》为研究对象，以创伤理论为基础，运用文本细读法与文献研究法等方法，对《八月之光》文本进行深入细致的阅读，关注主人公乔·克里斯默斯语言、行为、心理描写以及与其他人的互动等细节，从中梳理出造成其悲剧的情节和线索，剖析其悲剧形成的原因。主要包括以下几个方面的内容: 第一章为引言部分，包括对作者和作品的介绍、本研究的研究目的和意义以及国内外研究现状。第二章为研究的理论基础，创伤理论在文学作品中的应用以及创伤与悲剧的关联性。第三章是对《八月之光》中主人公创伤经历的详细梳理。第四章运用创伤理论分析主人公悲剧结局的原因。第五章为结语部分，总结文章主要内容及对当代的借鉴意义并指出本研究存在的不足。

关键词：创伤；《八月之光》；悲剧成因；种族身份

Abstract
抽象

Light in August, written and published in 1932 by American writer William Faulkner, is a long novel, which is set in the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi, in the early 20th-century American South. The story centers on the protagonist Joe Christmas, whose life is marked by profound trauma stemming from cultural conflicts and familial tensions within America’s multicultural context, ultimately leading to his tragic demise.
美国作家威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 于 1932 年 创作并出版了《 八月之光 》 是一部长篇小说，故事发生在 20 世纪初美国南部的虚构小镇密西西比州杰斐逊。故事以主人公乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 为中心，他的一生因美国多元文化背景下的文化冲突和家庭紧张局势而遭受深刻创伤 ，最终导致他悲惨死亡。

Based on trauma theory and employing methodologies such as close reading and literature review to conduct an in-depth textual analysis, the essay makes a deep study of Light in August, Faulkner’s long novel. By examining details of Joe Christmas’s language, actions, psychological depictions, and interactions with others, the research traces narrative threads and clues contributing to his tragedy, dissecting the root causes of his downfall. The paper is structured as follows: Chapter One Introduction, covering the author and work’s background, research objectives, significance, and current scholarly discourse domestically and internationally. Chapter Two introduces the theoretical foundation, exploring the application of trauma theory in literary works and the correlation between trauma and tragedy. Chapter Three systematically examines the protagonist’s traumatic experiences in the novel. Chapter Four analyzes the causes of his tragic fate through the lens of trauma theory. Chapter Five concludes by summarizing key findings, discussing contemporary relevance, and acknowledging the study’s limitations.
本文以创伤理论为基础，采用精读、文献综述等方法进行深入的文本分析 ，对福克纳的长篇小说 《 八月之光 》进行了深入研究。 通过检查乔·克里斯马斯的语言 、行为、心理描述和与他人互动的细节，该研究追踪了导致他悲剧的叙事线索和线索，剖析了他垮台的根本原因。论文结构如下：Chapter OneIntroduction，涵盖作者和工作的背景、研究目标、意义以及当前国内外学术话语。第二章介绍了理论基础，探讨了创伤理论在文学作品中的应用以及创伤与悲剧之间的相关性。 Chapter Three 系统地审视了小说中主人公的创伤经历。 Chapter Four 通过创伤理论的视角分析了他悲惨命运的原因。 Chapter Five 总结了关键发现，讨论了当代相关性，并承认了这项研究的局限性。

Keywords: Trauma ; Light in August; Causes of Tragedy; Racial identity
关键词：创伤 ; 八月有光 ;悲剧的原因;种族身份

Table of contents
目录

Chapter One Introduction 1
第一章 引言 1

1.1 William Faulkner and Light in August 1
1.1 威廉·福克纳和光 8 月 1 日

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance 2
1.2 研究目的和意义 2

1.3 Literature Review 3
1.3 文献综述 3

Chapter Two Theoretical Foundation 4
第二章 理论基础 4

2.1 Definition and Methodological Approaches of Trauma Theory 5
2.1 创伤理论的定义和方法论方法 5

2.1.1 A Brief Introduction to Trauma Theory 5
2.1.1 创伤理论简介 5

2.1.2 Application of Trauma Theory in Literary 6
2.1.2 创伤理论在文学中的应用 6

2.2 Analyzing the Correlation between Trauma and Tragedy 7
2.2 分析创伤与悲剧之间的相关性 7

Chapter Three The Embodiments of Joe’s Trauma in Light in August 8
第三章 8 月 8 日，乔的创伤在光明中的体现

3.1 Embodiment of Racial Trauma 8
3.1 种族创伤的体现 8

3.1.1 Ambiguity of Mixed-Race Identity 8
3.1.1 混血儿身份的歧义 8

3.1.2 Namelessness 9
3.1.2 无名 9

3.1.3 Institutionalized Racial Violence 9
3.1.3 制度化的种族暴力 9

3.2 Embodiment of Childhood Trauma 10
3.2 童年创伤的体现 10

3.2.1 Absence of a Biological Family 10
3.2.1 没有亲生家庭 10

3.2.2 Traumatic Orphanage Experiences 11
3.2.2 孤儿院的创伤经历 11

3.2.3Religious Violence from Adoptive Father 12
3.2.3 养父的宗教暴力 12

3.3 Embodiment of Religious Trauma 12
3.3 宗教创伤的体现 12

3.3.1 Oppression of Puritan Ethics 12
3.3.1 对清教徒伦理的压迫 12

3.3.2The Futility of Redemption 13
3.3.2 救赎的徒劳 13

Chapter Four Causes of Joe’s tragedy in Light in August 14
第四章 8 月 14 日乔在光中悲剧的原因

4.1 Institiutional Violence in the Southern Racial Hierarchy 14
4.1 南方种族等级制度中的机构暴力 14

4.1.1 The Violent Nature of Ricial Binary Opposition 14
4.1.1 Ricial 二元对立的暴力性质 14

4.1.2 The “Othering” of Mixed-Race Identity and Social Death 14
4.1.2 混血儿身份与社会性死亡的“他者化”14

4.1.3 Legal and Cultural Complicity in Racial Violence 15
4.1.3 种族暴力的法律和文化共谋 15

4.2 Family Collapse and Disciplinary 16
4.2 家庭崩溃和纪律处分 16

4.2.1 Absence of Biological Family and the Curse of Bloodline 16
4.2.1 没有亲生家庭和血统的诅咒 16

4.2.2 The Orphanage as an Extension of Racial and Class Oppression 16
4.2.2 孤儿院是种族和阶级压迫的延伸 16

4.2.3 McEachern’s Patriarchal and Religious Authoritarian Violence 16
4.2.3 麦凯克恩的父权制和宗教威权主义暴力 16

4.3 Puritanical Alienation and the Sanctification of Violence 17
4.3 清教徒的异化和暴力的神圣化 17

4.3.1 Calvinist Predestination and the Denial of Individual Redemption 17
4.3.1 加尔文主义的预定论和对个人救赎的否认 17

4.3.2 Sexual Repression and the Pathologization of Moral Judgment 17
4.3.2 性压抑和道德判断的病态化 17

4.3.3 Lynching as the Ultimate Expression of Religious Violence 17
4.3.3 私刑是宗教暴力的终极表现 17

Chapter Five Conclusion 18
第五章 结论 18

5.1 The main content of the Research 18
5.1 研究的主要内容 18

5.2 Research Signification 19
5.2 研究意义 19

5.3 Research Limitations 20
5.3 研究局限性 20

Bibliography 22
参考书目 22

Acknowledgments 24
致谢 24

Chapter One Introduction
第一章 引言

In the context of globalization, social issues such as racial conflicts, identity crises and systemic violence remain severe, making Joe Christmas’ tragic fate in William Faulkner’s Light in August resonate profoundly with contemporary society. As a mixed-race individual, Joe’s experiences of racial discrimination, religious violence and psychological trauma continue in new forms today: from the Black Lives Matter movement in America to identity dilemmas of immigrants in Europe, from cyberbullying to institutional discrimination. The struggles of individuals within multiple power structures echo Joe’s predicament. Using trauma theory as a framework, this study analyzes Joe’s complex traumas and their social roots, aiming not only to deepen the understanding of Faulkner’s literary world but also to provide new perspectives for interpreting structural violence in modern society. In an era of cultural diversity and value conflicts, re-examining this literary classic carries significant contemporary relevance.
在全球化的背景下，种族冲突、身份危机和系统性暴力等社会问题依然严峻，这使得威廉 ·福克纳的 《八月之光》 中乔·克里斯马斯的悲惨命运与当代社会产生了深刻的共鸣。作为一名混血儿，Joe 的种族歧视、宗教暴力和心理创伤经历今天以新的形式继续存在：从美国的 Black Lives Matter 运动到欧洲移民的身份困境，从网络欺凌到制度性歧视。个人在多种权力结构中的挣扎与 Joe 的困境相呼应 。本研究以创伤理论为框架，分析了乔的复杂创伤及其社会根源，不仅旨在加深对福克纳文学世界的理解，也为解释现代社会的结构性暴力提供新的视角。在一个文化多样性和价值冲突的时代，重新审视这部文学经典具有重要的当代意义。

1.1 William Faulkner and Light in August
1.1 威廉·福克纳和八月的光

William Faulkner is an American writer. He wins the Nobel Prize from Oxford. He is known by all people for his short stories and novels. Most of his novels have the same setting, i.e. the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, which is created by Faulkner based on Lafayette County.^[14]. William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. His family, once prominent Southern plantation owners, had declined in wealth by his birth. Faulkner developed a passion for literature early but dropped out of high school. He worked as a bank clerk and bookstore assistant and briefly joined the British Royal Air Force during World War I.
威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 是一位美国作家。他获得了牛津大学的诺贝尔奖。他以短篇小说和小说而闻名 。他的大部分小说都有相同的背景，即虚构的 Yoknapatawpha 县，它是福克纳根据拉斐特县创建的。^[14]。 威廉·福克纳于 1897 年 9 月 25 日出生于密西西比州的新奥尔巴尼。他的家族曾经是著名的南方种植园主，在他出生时财富已经下降。福克纳很早就对文学产生了热情，但高中就辍学了。他曾担任银行职员和书店助理，并在第一次世界大战期间短暂加入英国皇家空军。

In the 1920s, Faulkner moved to New Orleans, where he met writer Sherwood Anderson, who encouraged him to write fiction. His debut novel,Soldiers’ Pay(1926), received little attention. In 1929, he shifted to Southern narratives set in the fictional “Yoknapatawpha County,” publishing his masterpiece The Sound and the Fury the same year, cementing his literary reputation.
1920 年代，福克纳搬到新奥尔良，在那里他遇到了作家舍伍德·安德森 （Sherwood Anderson），后者鼓励他写小说。他的处女作《 士兵的薪水 》（Soldiers Pay，1926 年）很少受到关注。1929 年，他转向以虚构的 “Yoknapatawpha 县 ”为背景的南方叙事，并于同年出版了他的杰作 《声音与愤怒 》，巩固了他的文学声誉。

The 1930s marked Faulkner’s most prolific period. He published As I Lay Dying(1930), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936), renowned for their complex narratives, stream-of-consciousness techniques, and exploration of race, family, and Southern history.
1930 年代是福克纳最多产的时期。他出版了 《当我躺着死去》（1930 年）、《八月的光 》（1932 年）和 《押沙龙，押沙龙！ 》（1936 年），以其复杂的叙事、意识流技巧以及对种族、家庭和南方历史的探索而闻名。

To alleviate financial struggles, Faulkner worked as a Hollywood screenwriter from the 1930s to 1950s, contributing to films like The Big Sleep. In 1949, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.” His acceptance speech emphasized “man’s endurance and his will to prevail.”
为了缓解经济困难，福克纳在 1930 年代至 1950 年代担任好莱坞编剧，为 《沉睡》 等电影做出了贡献 。1949 年，他因“对现代美国小说做出巨大而独特的艺术贡献”而获得诺贝尔文学奖。他的获奖感言强调了“人的耐力和必胜的意志”。

In his later years, Faulkner served as a writer-in-residence at the University of Virginia. He continued writing until his death from a heart attack on July 6, 1962. Despite struggles with alcoholism and a troubled marriage, he left a legacy of 17 novels and over 100 short stories.
晚年，福克纳在弗吉尼亚大学担任驻校作家。他继续写作，直到 1962 年 7 月 6 日因心脏病发作去世。尽管与酗酒作斗争和麻烦的婚姻，但他留下了 17 部小说和 100 多篇短篇小说的遗产。

His works delve into racism, slavery’s legacy, Puritanical oppression, and redemption. For example, Joe Christmas’s tragedy in Light in August exposes the social construction of racial identity.
他的作品深入探讨了种族主义、奴隶制的遗产、清教徒的压迫和救赎。例如，乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 在 《八月之光 》中的悲剧揭露了种族身份的社会建构。

“Light in August is one of Faulkner’s representative works. It occupies an important position in Yoknapatawpha system. By describing ten days social life in Jefferson, the novel reflects people’s true feelings, love, compassion, pride and sacrifice” ^[14]. The paper explores racial identity and self-perception through Joe Christmas’s mixed-race heritage, critiquing the absurdity of Southern racism and society’s violent imposition of identity.the growth of identity. Light in August was published in 1932. It is considered a landmark in the literature of the American South and one of the masterpieces of modernist fiction.The novel unfolds in three interwoven plot lines, using stream of consciousness and multi-perspective narrative as well as symbolism and metaphor.The novel is filled with violence,repression and grotesque characters that reflect the shadows of Southern history.It is one of William Faulkner’s most ambitious works, blending themes of race, religion, and humanity. It exposes the American South’s racial trauma, religious repression, and human contradictions through intertwined narratives. Joe Christmas’s destruction contrasts with Lena Grove’s renewal, critiquing societal evils while hinting at fragile redemption.
“《八月的光》 是福克纳的代表作之一。它在 Yoknapatawpha 系统中占有重要地位。小说通过描述杰斐逊十天的社交生活，反映了人们的真实感受、爱、同情心、骄傲和牺牲 “^[14]。 该论文通过 Joe Christmas 的混血传统探讨了种族身份和自我认知 ，批判了南方种族主义的荒谬性和社会对身份的暴力强加。 《八月之光 》于 1932 年出版。它被认为是美国南方文学的里程碑，也是现代主义小说的杰作之一。小说以三条交织的情节线展开，使用意识流和多视角叙事以及象征主义和隐喻。这部小说充满了暴力、压迫和怪诞的人物，反映了南方历史的阴影。这是威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 最雄心勃勃的作品之一，融合了种族、宗教和人性的主题。它通过交织在一起的叙事揭露了美国南方的种族创伤、宗教压迫和人类矛盾。乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 的毁灭与莉娜·格罗夫 （Lena Grove） 的更新形成鲜明对比 ，它批判了社会的罪恶，同时暗示了脆弱的救赎。

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance
1.2 研究目的和意义

This study primarily analyzes Light in August, a novel by American author William Faulkner. Through its intricately interwoven narrative threads, the novel portrays the landscape of the American South and the vicissitudes of its characters’ fates. Employing trauma theory, this research aims to investigate the root causes of the protagonist’s tragedy by delving into how his early traumatic experiences—such as childhood abandonment and racial discrimination—establish the psychological foundation for his demise, and by dissecting how these traumas shape his aberrant behavioral patterns. The analysis reveals Faulkner’s critique of racial issues in the American South, exposing the brutality of racial discrimination through the protagonist Joe Christmas’s experiences while illuminating the complexities of human nature. Furthermore, the novel reflects the spiritual dilemmas of modern humanity, prompting profound reflections on human existence, sociohistorical and cultural dimensions, and broader societal structures.
本研究主要分析美国作家威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 的小说《 八月之光 》。通过其错综复杂的叙事线索，这部小说描绘了美国南部的景观和人物命运的沧桑 。本研究采用创伤理论，旨在通过深入研究他早期的创伤经历（如童年遗弃和种族歧视）如何为他的死亡奠定心理基础，并剖析这些创伤如何塑造他的异常行为模式，来调查主人公悲剧的根本原因。该分析揭示了福克纳对美国南方种族问题的批判，通过主人公乔·克里斯马斯的经历揭露了种族歧视的残酷性 ， 同时阐明了人性的复杂性。此外，这部小说反映了现代人性的精神困境，引发了对人类存在、社会历史和文化维度以及更广泛的社会结构的深刻反思。

Light in August holds significant literary and cultural research value.From a literary perspective, this study offers a fresh interpretive lens for analyzing the novel’s characters, deepening the understanding of Faulkner’s creative intentions and narrative techniques. On a cultural level, it unveils how societal traumas—such as race and religion within a specific historical context—impact individual destinies, thereby capturing the struggles of humanity amidst societal contradictions. This exploration invites critical engagement with issues of social justice, the duality of human morality, and cultural integration, fostering a nuanced dialogue between literature and the enduring challenges of the human condition.
八月之光具有重要的文学和文化研究价值。从文学的角度来看，本研究为分析小说中的人物提供了一个全新的解释视角 ，加深了对福克纳创作意图和叙事技巧的理解。在文化层面上，它揭示了社会创伤（例如特定历史背景下的种族和宗教）如何影响个人命运，从而捕捉到人类在社会矛盾中的挣扎。这种探索邀请对社会正义、人类道德的二元性和文化融合等问题进行批判性参与，促进文学与人类状况的持久挑战之间的微妙对话。

1.3 Literature Review
1.3 文献综述

William Faulkner is one of the most famous American writers, whose career began in the 1920s. Light in August has attracted much attention since its publication.
威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 是美国最著名的作家之一，他的职业生涯始于 1920 年代。 八月之光自发布以来备受关注。

Early scholarship focused on Faulkner’s allegorical portrayal of Southern history and culture. Cleanth Brooks (1963, p. 430) argued that Light in August mythologizes the South’s decline but neglected the sociopolitical roots of characters’psychological trauma.Such studies emphasized narrative techniques, reducing Joe’s violence to a “symbol of Southern original sin” (Vickery, 1959, p. 112) while overlooking the complexity of his individual trauma.Recent scholars (Whitehead, 2004) applied this theory to literature, interpreting Joe’s childhood abuse and identity confusion as “traumatic repetition.”However, these studies often isolated individual psychology.
早期的学术研究集中在福克纳对南方历史和文化的寓言式描绘上。Cleanth Brooks（1963 年，第 430 页 ）认为， 八月之光将南方的衰落神话化 ， 但忽视了人物心理创伤的社会政治根源 。此类研究强调叙事技巧 ， 将乔的暴力简化为 “ 南方原罪的象征 ”（Vickery，1959 年，第 112 页 ），同时忽视了他个人创伤的复杂性。最近的学者 （Whitehead， 2004） 将这一理论应用于文学，将乔的童年虐待和身份困惑解释为 “ 创伤性的重复。“ 然而，这些研究往往孤立了个体心理学。

Existing literature has two limitations: First, the intersection of psychological trauma and racial oppression remains underexplored. Second, Joe’s violence is often moralized rather than analyzed through empathetic engagement with trauma mechanisms.The scholarship on Light in August demonstrates that single disciplinary approaches inadequately explain Joe’s tragedy. By bridging interdisciplinary theories, this study addresses this gap, deepening the understanding of Faulkner’s humanistic concerns and offering methodological insights for literary trauma studies.
现有文献有两个局限性：首先，心理创伤和种族压迫的交叉点仍未得到充分探索。其次，乔的暴力行为经常被道德化，而不是通过对创伤机制的同理心参与来分析。8 月的 Light 学术研究表明，单一学科方法不足以解释 Joe 的悲剧。通过弥合跨学科理论，本研究解决了这一差距，加深了对福克纳人文主义问题的理解，并为文学创伤研究提供了方法论见解。

Chapter Two Theoretical Foundation
第二章 理论基础

On basis of understanding the time background of Light in August as well as the author, and clarifying the purpose and significance of this paper’s research, this paper chooses to use trauma theory as the theoretical basis for the following research and discussion. The development of trauma theory is rooted in the intersection of 20th-century psychology and psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920) introduced the concept of “repetition compulsion,” revealing how traumatic memories invade reality through unconscious repetition (p. 23), laying the foundation for trauma studies. In the 1990s, Cathy Caruth’s Trauma: Explorations in Memory (1995) brought trauma theory into literary studies, emphasizing trauma’s “unspeakability” and positing literature as a unique medium for trauma through fragmented narratives and symbolic metaphors. Concurrently, Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery (1992) proposed the theory of complex trauma, focusing on the collapse of individual psyches under prolonged violence—a framework critical to analyzing Joe Christmas’s multifaceted traumas (racial oppression, religious violence, identity crisis) in Light in August. The expansion of trauma theory from psychology to cultural criticism has established it as a vital methodology for deconstructing systemic violence and dissecting collective memory, aligning perfectly with the urgent need to decode the pathologies of Faulkner’s Southern society.
在了解了 《八月之光》 的时间背景以及作者的基础上，明确了本文研究的目的和意义 ，本文选择以创伤理论作为后续研究和讨论的理论基础。创伤理论的发展植根于 20 世纪心理学和精神分析的交叉点。西格蒙德·弗洛伊德 （Sigmund Freud） 的 Beyond the Pleasure Principle （1920） 引入了“重复强迫”的概念，揭示了创伤性记忆如何通过无意识的重复侵入现实 （第 23 页）， 为创伤研究奠定了基础。在 1990 年代，凯茜·卡鲁斯 （Cathy Caruth） 的 《创伤：记忆探索》（Trauma： Explorations in Memory，1995 年）将创伤理论带入文学研究，强调创伤的 “ 不可言说性”，并通过碎片化的叙述和象征性的隐喻将文学定位为创伤的独特媒介。同时，朱迪思·赫尔曼 （Judith Herman） 的 《创伤与恢复》（Trauma and Recovery，1992 年 ）提出了复杂创伤理论，关注在长期暴力下个体心理的崩溃——这一框架对于分析乔·圣诞节 （Joe Christmas） 的多方面创伤（种族压迫、宗教暴力、身份危机）至关重要 .创伤理论从心理学扩展到文化批评，使其成为解构系统性暴力和剖析集体记忆的重要方法，与解码福克纳南方社会病态的迫切需求完美契合。

2.1 Definition and Methodological Approaches of Trauma Theory
2.1 创伤理论的定义和方法论方法

2.1.1 A Brief Introduction to Trauma Theory
2.1.1 创伤理论简介

Trauma Theory is an interdisciplinary framework that examines persistent psychological damage and its cultural manifestations in individuals or collectives after extreme events. Its core definition encompasses two dimensions: individual trauma (e.g., memory fragmentation caused by violence or abuse) and collective trauma (e.g., intergenerational memory transmission triggered by war or genocide). The essence of trauma lies in its “unassimilability”—traumatic events evade complete narration due to their rupture of conventional cognitive frameworks, yet resurface through intrusive symptoms like flashbacks or nightmares. In literary studies, Trauma Theory focuses on how texts replicate this“unspeakability”through narrative fragmentation, temporal distortion, and somatized metaphors.
创伤理论是一个跨学科框架，研究极端事件后个人或集体的持续心理伤害及其文化表现。其核心定义包括两个维度：个人创伤（例如，由暴力或虐待引起的记忆碎片化）和集体创伤（例如，由战争或种族灭绝引发的代际记忆传递）。创伤的本质在于它的“不可同化性”——创伤事件由于打破了传统的认知框架而逃避了完整的叙述，但又通过闪回或噩梦等侵入性症状重新浮出水面。在文学研究中，创伤理论侧重于文本如何通过叙事碎片化、时间扭曲和躯体化隐喻来复制这种“不可言说性”。

The core of trauma theory lies in explaining why extreme psychological harm continues to profoundly affect individuals’ mental states and behaviors long after the traumatic event. Just as physical wounds may scab over yet remain vulnerable to recurrent infections, psychological trauma persistently intrudes upon daily life through symptoms like “flashbacks of traumatic memories” and “emotional dysregulation.” A prime illustration can be found in William Faulkner’s Light in August, where the character Joe Christmas, scarred by childhood abuse, develops an entrenched inability to trust others. This trauma drives him to repeatedly resort to violence against the external world, ultimately culminating in self-destruction.
创伤理论的核心在于解释为什么极端的心理伤害在创伤事件发生后很长一段时间内仍然深刻地影响个人的心理状态和行为。正如身体上的伤口可能会结痂但仍然容易受到反复感染一样，心理创伤也会通过 “ 创伤记忆的闪回 ” 和 “ 情绪失调 ”等症状持续侵入日常生活。“ 威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 的 《 八月之光》（Light in August） 就是一个很好的例子 ，其中的角色乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 因童年虐待而伤痕累累，发展出根深蒂固的不信任他人的能力。这种创伤驱使他一再诉诸对外部世界的暴力，最终以自我毁灭告终。

Trauma Theory emphasizes two fundmental tenets: 1.Traumatic memories often resist verbal articulation, manifesting instead through somatic responses or compulsive behavioral patterns. 2. External systemic pressures exponentially amplify trauma’s corrosive effects. Joe’s biracial identity in a segregationist society operates as a ticking time bomb—his marginalized existence embodies the collision of personal trauma and structural violence. In essence, trauma theory transcends mere psychological framework; it serves as a critical lens for dissecting human suffering and systemic oppression. It asserts: Trauma is not individual failure but an imprint of survival; healing demands not only confronting internal wounds but radically transforming the environments that breed such wounds.
创伤理论强调两个基本原则： 1.创伤性记忆通常抵制语言表达，而是通过躯体反应或强迫性行为模式表现出来。2. 外部全身压力成倍放大了创伤的腐蚀作用。乔在种族隔离主义社会中的混血儿身份就像一颗定时炸弹——他被边缘化的存在体现了个人创伤和结构性暴力的碰撞。从本质上讲，创伤理论超越了单纯的心理学框架;它是剖析人类苦难和系统性压迫的批判性镜头。它断言：创伤不是个人的失败，而是生存的印记;治愈不仅需要面对内部伤口，而且需要从根本上改变滋生此类伤口的环境。

2.1.2 Application of Trauma Theory in Literary
2.1.2 创伤理论在文学中的应用

Trauma Theory offers a unique lens for interpreting character psychology and societal violence in literary works. By analyzing Joe Christmas’s traumatic experiences in Light in August, we observe that his violent actions stem not only from personal psychological collapse but also from the racial oppression and religious prejudice embedded in Southern society. Faulkner’s use of non-linear narratives and symbolic imagery replicates the fragmented and unspeakable nature of traumatic memory. This narrative strategy intensifies the character’s tragedy while compelling readers to confront the enduring impact of historical violence on individual destinies.
创伤理论为解释文学作品中的人物心理和社会暴力提供了一个独特的视角。通过分析乔·圣诞节在 《八月之光 》 中的创伤经历 ，我们观察到他的暴力行为不仅源于个人心理崩溃，还源于南方社会根深蒂固的种族压迫和宗教偏见。福克纳对非线性叙事和象征性意象的使用复制了创伤记忆的碎片化和不可言说的本质。这种叙事策略加剧了人物的悲剧，同时迫使读者面对历史暴力对个人命运的持久影响。

Trauma theory offers critical frameworks for literary analysis and creation, particularly through: Narrative Reconstruction of Traumatic Memory: Non-linear timelines, fragmented perspectives, and symbolic metaphors reflect the illogical and inexpressible nature of traumatic memory.Corporeal Writing as Trauma’s Medium: Physical symptoms (disease, violence) externalize internal psychological pain, revealing trauma’s destruction of both body and spirit. Encoding Collective Trauma in Social Context: Analyzing how historical traumas (e.g., war, racism) are embedded in cultural symbols and power structures through literature.
创伤理论为文学分析和创作提供了关键框架，特别是通过： 创伤记忆的叙事重建：非线性时间线、碎片化的视角和象征性的隐喻反映了创伤记忆的不合逻辑和不可表达的性质。作为创伤媒介的肉体写作：身体症状（疾病、暴力）将内部心理痛苦外化，揭示了创伤对身体和精神的破坏。 在社会背景下编码集体创伤：分析历史创伤（例如战争、种族主义）如何通过文学嵌入文化符号和权力结构中。

For example,Faulkner employs non-linear narrative, corporeal writing, and social contextualization to integrate trauma theory into Light in August. Centered on Joe Christmas’s tragedy, the novel uses fragmented memories reconstructed through flashbacks and multiple perspectives, illustrating the inexpressibility and compulsive repetition of traumatic experiences. Meanwhile, Joe’s violent acts and physical decay externalize trauma as corporeal symbols, revealing the symbiosis between individual suffering and systemic oppression. Furthermore, the historical traumas of the American South (e.g., racism, religious ) are encoded through symbolic systems, transforming personal tragedy into a critique of civilized violence’s inherent brutality.
例如，福克纳采用非线性叙事、身体写作和社会语境化，将创伤理论整合到 《八月之光》 中 。小说以乔·圣诞节的悲剧为中心，通过倒叙和多视角重构碎片化记忆，展现了创伤经历的无法表达和强迫性重复。与此同时，乔的暴力行为和身体腐烂将创伤外化为肉体符号，揭示了个人痛苦与系统性压迫之间的共生关系。此外，美国南方的历史创伤（例如种族主义、宗教）通过符号系统进行编码，将个人悲剧转化为对文明暴力固有残酷性的批判。

2.2 The Correlation Between Trauma and Tragedy
2.2 创伤与悲剧的相关性

The profound connection between trauma and tragedy manifests in three dimensions. Firstly, the irreversible nature of trauma traps individuals in repetitive behavioral patterns. Taking Joe Christmas from Faulkner’s Light in August as an example, his violent tendencies and self-destructive behavior stem not merely from personality flaws but from persistent trauma caused by childhood abandonment and fractured identity formation. This psychological mechanism aligns with the psychoanalytic concept of “repetition compulsion” individuals unconsciously recreate painful experiences in an attempt to master trauma, yet ultimately worsen psychological disintegration.
创伤与悲剧之间的深刻联系体现在三个维度上。首先，创伤的不可逆转性质使个体陷入重复的行为模式中。以福克纳的 《八月之光 》中的乔·圣诞节为例，他的暴力倾向和自毁行为不仅源于性格缺陷，还源于童年被遗弃和身份形成断裂造成的持续创伤。这种心理机制与精神分析的 “ 重复强迫 ”概念一致 ， 个体无意识地重现痛苦的经历，试图掌握创伤，但最终加剧了心理瓦解。

Secondly, structural social violence creates external frameworks that solidify trauma. The dual oppression of racial segregation and religious dogma in the American South formed an institutionalized system: the “one-drop rule” permanently marginalized mixed-race individuals, while Puritan ethics suppressed human instincts. When personal trauma interacts with systemic discrimination, institutional violence materializes as inescapable destiny. Joe’s violent self-assertion ultimately stems from being denied recognition in both racial and religious contexts.
其次，结构性社会暴力创造了固化创伤的外部框架。在美国南方，种族隔离和宗教教条的双重压迫形成了一个制度化的体系：“ 一滴规则 ” 永久地边缘化了混血儿，而清教徒伦理则压制了人类的本能。当个人创伤与系统性歧视相互作用时，制度性暴力就会成为不可避免的命运。乔的暴力自我主张最终源于在种族和宗教背景下被剥夺了认可。

On a deeper historical level, trauma transmission mechanisms reveal enduring impacts. The racial trauma from slavery persisted through cultural memory, spatial segregation, and intergenerational narratives long after abolition. Individual tragedy thus becomes a metaphor for civilizational progress. Joe’s destruction not only reflects the collective spiritual crisis of the 20th-century American South but also exposes how modern violence transforms from overt oppression to covert trauma. This collective dimension of traumatic memory elevates literary narratives into universal critiques of civilizational violence.
在更深的历史层面上，创伤传递机制揭示了持久的影响。奴隶制造成的种族创伤在废奴后很长一段时间内通过文化记忆、空间隔离和代际叙事仍然存在。因此，个人悲剧成为文明进步的隐喻。乔的毁灭不仅反映了 20 世纪美国南方的集体精神危机，还揭示了现代暴力如何从公开的压迫转变为隐蔽的创伤。创伤记忆的这种集体维度将文学叙事提升为对文明暴力的普遍批判。

Chapter Three The Embodiments of Joe’s Trauma in Light in August
第三章 八月光明中乔的创伤的体现

Building on the trauma theory framework established in Chapter Two, which explores the interplay between trauma’s “unspeakability” and structural violence, this chapter delves into the embodiment of Joe Christmas’s multifaceted traumas in Light in August. Through close textual analysis and theoretical interpretation, it systematically deconstructs the mechanisms underlying his tragic fate. First, the manifestations of racial trauma reveal how Southern society enforces the “othering” of mixed-race individuals through institutionalized classificatory violence—bloodline stigmatization, namelessness, and spatial exclusion. Second, the accumulation of childhood trauma—rooted in familial absence, orphanage abuse, and religious discipline—exposes the corrosive impact of power structures on individual psychology. Finally, the sanctification of religious violence transforms personal annihilation into a metaphor for civilizational brutality. These traumas are not isolated but intricately linked to the racial hierarchy, familial collapse, and institutional complicity examined in Chapter Four, collectively weaving a web of violence that devours humanity. By dissecting the embodiment of Joe’s traumas, this chapter establishes both textual and theoretical foundations for unraveling the operational logic of structural violence in subsequent analyses.
第二章探讨了创伤的 “ 不可言说性” 与结构性暴力之间的相互作用，本章以第二章建立的创伤理论框架为基础，深入探讨了乔·圣诞节在 《八月之光 》中多方面创伤的体现 。通过深入的文本分析和理论解读，系统地解构了他悲剧命运背后的机制。首先，种族创伤的表现揭示了南方社会如何通过制度化的分类暴力——血统污名化、无名和空间排斥——来强制执行混血儿个体的 “ 他者化 ”。其次，童年创伤的积累——植根于家庭缺席、孤儿院虐待和宗教纪律——暴露了权力结构对个人心理的腐蚀影响。最后，宗教暴力的神圣化将个人毁灭转化为文明残酷的隐喻。这些创伤不是孤立的，而是与第四章中探讨的种族等级制度、家庭崩溃和制度共谋错综复杂的联系，共同编织了一张吞噬人类的暴力网络。通过剖析乔的创伤的体现 ，本章为在随后的分析中解开结构性暴力的作逻辑奠定了文本和理论基础。

3.1 Embodiment of Racial Trauma
3.1 种族创伤的体现

3.1.1 Ambiguity of Mixed-Race Identity
3.1.1 混血儿身份的模糊性

Joe Christmas’s birth was marked by profound complexity. From the moment of his birth, he faced overwhelming hardships and conflicts^[11]. Orphaned immediately after being born, his racial identity—whether he was White or Black—remained a mystery to everyone around him. Faulkner traces how racial ambiguity is a product of social construction: at the orphanage, Joe faces abuse from caretakers due to his suspected Black ancestry; as an adult, white communities view him as a “potential threat,” while Black groups reject him for his white features. This dual exclusion traps Joe in a perpetual limbo of belonging, his identity fractured between “not Black nor white.”Through a trauma theory lens, the ambiguity of mixed-race identity is not merely a personal tragedy but a microcosm of the South’s “othering” mechanism. Joe’s violent rebellions—patricide and Joanna’s murder—are logical revolts against imposed identities, yet they ultimately succumb to institutional violence. His fate underscores how racial categorization weaponizes biological ambiguity to enforce social death.
乔 ·克里斯蒂斯 （Joe Christmas） 的诞生具有极其复杂性。从他出生的那一刻起，他就面临着压倒性的困难和冲突 ^[11]。 他出生后立即成为孤儿，他的种族身份——无论他是白人还是黑人——对他周围的每个人来说都是一个谜。 福克纳追溯了种族模糊性是社会建构的产物：在孤儿院，乔因被怀疑是黑人血统而面临看护人的虐待;成年后，白人社区将他视为 “ 潜在威胁”， 而黑人群体则因为他的白人特征而拒绝他。这种双重排斥使 Joe 陷入了永远的归属感边缘，他的身份在“非黑非白”之间分裂。从创伤理论的角度来看，混血儿身份的模糊性不仅仅是个人悲剧，而是南方 “他者化”机制的缩影。乔的暴力叛乱——弑父和乔安娜的谋杀——是对强加身份的合乎逻辑的反抗，但它们最终屈服于制度暴力。他的命运突显了种族分类如何将生物学模糊性武器化，以强制实施社会性死亡。

3.1.2 Namelessness
3.1.2 无名

Joe Christmas’s name was randomly given by an orphanage nurse because he was abandoned at the orphanage door on Christmas Eve. This ironic origin contrasts sharply with his tragic background. The name “Christmas”, which symbolizes Christian redemption, becomes an empty sign, reflecting the emptiness of his identity. Society further redefines him through derogatory labels like “nigger” and “bastard”, stripping him of the right to define himself. Names no longer affirm identity but serve as tools of racial oppression. He gradually realizes his difference from others but cannot grasp his true self, leading to identity confusion. The novel repeatedly describes him as a “shadow”, symbolizing his lack of a concrete identity. For example: “In that quiet, empty street... he moved like a shadow” (Faulkner,1932, p. 111). He becomes “the figure, the shadow, fading on down the road” (177). After his escape, the crowd stares at the jail “as though what had fled was the Negro’s shadow” (338).
乔·圣诞节的名字是孤儿院护士随机给出的，因为他在平安夜被遗弃在孤儿院门口。这种具有讽刺意味的起源与他的悲剧背景形成鲜明对比。象征基督教救赎的 “ 圣诞节 ” 这个名字 变成了一个空洞的标志，反映了他身份的空虚。社会通过 “ 黑鬼 ” 和 “ 混蛋 ” 等贬义标签进一步重新定义他，剥夺了他定义自己的权利。名字不再肯定身份，而是成为种族压迫的工具。他逐渐意识到自己与他人的不同，但无法把握真实的自我，导致身份混乱。小说一再将他描述为象征他缺乏具体身份的“ 影子 ”。 例如：“ 在那条安静、空旷的街道上......他像影子一样移动 “（Faulkner，1932 年，第 1 页。 111）. 他变成了 “ 人物，影子，在路上逐渐消失 ”（177）。他越狱后，人群盯着监狱，“ 仿佛逃跑的是黑人的影子 ”（338）。

The metaphor of the “shadow” haunts his consciousness, deepening his uncertainty about who he is. This imagery underscores how systemic oppression erases individuality, leaving him trapped in a limbo of non-belonging.^[9]
“ 影子 ” 的隐喻萦绕在他的意识中，加深了他对自己是谁的不确定性。 这些意象强调了系统性的压迫如何抹杀个性，使他陷入无归属感的困境。^[9]

3.1.3 Institutionalized Racial Violence
3.1.3 制度化的种族暴力

Joe Christmas’s life is strangled by the institutionalized racial violence of the South. From the orphanage to workplaces, racism conspires through legal, economic, and cultural systems to strip him of legitimacy. Orphanage caretakers whip young Joe under the guise of “soul purification”, ingraining racial prejudice into his psyche. As an adult, employers dismiss him due to white coworkers’ protests against his mixed-race identity, exposing the economic system’s tacit racial exclusion. Legal institutions condone extralegal violence—when accused of Joanna’s murder, Joe is lynched without trial, with law enforcement and bystanders complicit. Faulkner reveals institutional violence as no accident but a core mechanism sustaining racial hierarchy. The lynching mob chants “Amen” to sanctify brutality, transforming racial murder into a religious ritual—a testament to violence’s entrenchment in Southern moral order. Joe’s death signifies not only physical annihilation but the system’s final denial of his humanity. Through a trauma theory lens, institutionalized violence trauma as societal norm through repetitive oppression, reducing individual resistance to fodder for systemic self-replication. His tragedy exemplifies how structures of power normalize dehumanization, rendering dissent both inevitable and futile.
乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 的生活被南方制度化的种族暴力扼杀。从孤儿院到工作场所，种族主义通过法律、经济和文化系统合谋剥夺了他的合法性。孤儿院的看护人打着“灵魂净化”的幌子鞭打年轻的乔，将种族偏见根深蒂固地植入他的心灵。成年后，雇主解雇了他，因为白人同事抗议他的混血身份，暴露了经济制度默许的种族排斥。法律机构纵容法外暴力——当被指控谋杀乔安娜时，乔未经审判就被私刑处决，执法人员和旁观者是同谋。福克纳揭示了制度性暴力并非偶然，而是维持种族等级制度的核心机制。私刑暴徒高呼“阿门”以神圣化残暴，将种族谋杀转变为一种宗教仪式——这证明了暴力在南方道德秩序中根深蒂固。乔的死不仅意味着肉体上的毁灭，也意味着系统对他的人性的最终否定。通过创伤理论的视角，通过反复的压迫将暴力创伤制度化为社会规范，减少了个人对系统性自我复制的素材的抵抗。他的悲剧体现了权力结构如何使非人化正常化，使异议变得不可避免和徒劳。

3.2 Embodiment of Childhood Trauma
3.2 童年创伤的体现

3.2.1 Absence of a Biological Family
3.2.1 没有亲生家庭

In William Faulkner’s Light in August, the absence of Joe Christmas’origin family is not merely a personal void but an allegorical dissection of the South’s structural collapse. From infancy, adopted by the abusive Robinsons, Joe remains ignorant of his biological father’s true lineage—the emotional and racial chasm between his African heritage and white adoptive identity forms the bedrock of his existential crisis. The Robinsons’violent patriarchy, coupled with the maternal religious suppression (most notably the Christmas taboo enacted by his birth mother), constructs a distorted power hierarchy within the family unit. This fractured kinship condemns Joe to a lifelong struggle with alienation: he is rejected by the white supremacist society that claims him as racially”pure”while simultaneously ostracized by the Black community due to his ambiguous heritage.
在威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 的《 八月之光 》中，乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 原生家庭的缺席不仅仅是个人的空白，而是对南方结构性崩溃的寓言式剖析。从婴儿时期开始，乔就被虐待的罗宾逊收养，他对他亲生父亲的真实血统一无所知——他的非洲血统和白人收养身份之间的情感和种族鸿沟构成了他生存危机的基石。罗宾逊一家的暴力父权制，加上母性宗教压制（最明显的是他的生母颁布的圣诞节禁忌），在家庭单位内构建了一个扭曲的权力等级制度。这种支离破碎的亲属关系注定了乔终生与疏离的斗争：他被白人至上主义社会拒绝，声称他是种族“纯洁的”，同时由于他模棱两可的血统而被黑人社区排斥。

Joe Christmas’s lack of a biological family is the root of his tragic fate, through which Faulkner exposes the moral decay of Southern familial and racial ethics. His mother, Milly Hines, dies in childbirth while bearing the “racial stigma” of her relationship with a man suspected to be Black. Her father, Doc Hines, abandons the infant at an orphanage, declaring him a “devil’s spawn.” This act not only deprives Joe of maternal bonds but frames his very existence as “original sin”—his mixed-race identity is condemned as unforgivable shame by his own bloodline. The orphanage intensifies this trauma: caretakers abuse him under the guise of “saving his soul,” and his adoption by the McEacherns drags him into a more violent disciplinary regime. McEachern’s Puritan fanaticism and the religious repression inherited from his mother forge dual shackles, trapping Joe between “bloodline sin” and “divine judgment.” Faulkner illustrates through Joe’s wandering and violence that when families collude with racism and religious hypocrisy, individual rebellion only perpetuates trauma. Joe’s murder of McEachern, flight from Joanna’s redemption attempts, and acceptance of lynching are all compulsive reenactments of his “abandoned” identity. The void of biological family ultimately becomes an abyss that devours humanity.
乔·克里斯马斯没有亲生家庭是他悲惨命运的根源，福克纳通过它揭露了南方家庭和种族伦理的道德堕落。他的母亲米莉·海因斯 （Milly Hines） 在与一名疑似黑人男子的关系中背负着“种族耻辱”，死于难产。她的父亲 Doc Hines 将婴儿遗弃在孤儿院，宣布他是“魔鬼的后代”。这一行为不仅剥夺了乔的母系纽带，而且将他的存在定性为“原罪”——他的混血身份被他自己的血统谴责为不可饶恕的耻辱 。 孤儿院加剧了这种创伤：看护人以“拯救他的灵魂”为幌子虐待他，他被麦凯克恩一家收养，将他拖入了一个更加暴力的管教制度。麦凯克恩的清教徒狂热和从他母亲那里继承的宗教压迫形成了双重枷锁，将乔困在“血统罪恶”和“神圣审判”之间。福克纳通过乔的流浪和暴力表明，当家庭与种族主义和宗教虚伪勾结时，个人的反叛只会使创伤永久化。乔谋杀麦凯克恩、逃离乔安娜的赎罪尝试以及接受私刑都是对他 “被遗弃” 身份的强迫性重演。 亲生家庭的空白最终会变成吞噬人类的深渊。

3.2.2 Traumatic Orphanage Experiences
3.2.2 孤儿院的创伤经历

Joe Christmas’s orphanage trauma marks the genesis of his psychological disintegration, through which Faulkner critiques institutionalized violence against marginalized individuals in the South. Abandoned by his grandfather, Joe faces systematic abuse in the orphanage due to his ambiguous racial identity: caretakers force him to kneel on freezing floors to recite scripture under the guise of “soul purification,” and publicly whip him after catching him peeping at a female caretaker, justifying the punishment as stemming from “Black depravity”. This violent discipline ingrains racial prejudice into his psyche, equating physical pain with moral stigma. The collective ostracism (e.g., isolation and mockery by other children) deepens his identity crisis—he belongs to neither the white nor Black community, existing as a “nameless entity.” Faulkner underscores that the orphanage functions as a microcosm of Southern racism and Puritan hypocrisy: the caretakers’ rhetoric of “salvation” masks power domination, and Joe’s subsequent silence and violent tendencies (e.g., provoking authority figures) reflect a pathological rebellion against such coercive discipline. By the time the McEacherns adopt him, the orphanage trauma has crystallized into self-loathing, propelling his compulsive reenactment of the “abandoned” identity through acts of mutual destruction.
乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 在孤儿院的创伤标志着他心理瓦解的根源，福克纳通过它批评了针对南方边缘化个体的制度化暴力。乔被祖父抛弃，由于他模棱两可的种族身份，他在孤儿院面临系统性的虐待：看护人以“灵魂净化”为幌子强迫他跪在冰冷的地板上背诵经文，并在发现他女看护人后公开鞭打他，为惩罚辩护源于“黑人堕落”。这种暴力的管教使种族偏见根深蒂固在他的心理中，将身体上的痛苦等同于道德耻辱。集体排斥（例如，被其他孩子孤立和嘲笑）加深了他的身份危机——他既不属于白人也不属于黑人社区，作为一个“无名的实体”存在。福克纳强调，孤儿院是南方种族主义和清教徒虚伪的缩影：看护人“ 救赎”的言论掩盖了权力统治，而乔随后的沉默和暴力倾向（例如，挑衅权威人物）反映了对这种强制性管教的病态反叛。当麦凯克恩一家收养他时，孤儿院的创伤已经结晶为自我厌恶，促使他通过相互毁灭的行为强迫性地重演“被遗弃”的身份。

3.2.3 Religious Violence from Adoptive Father
3.2.3 养父的宗教暴力

McEachern’s religious violence toward Joe Christmas lies at the heart of Faulkner’s deconstruction of Puritan repression, pathologically shaping Joe’s psyche. As a fanatical Calvinist, McEachern weaponizes biblical doctrine: he forces young Joe to memorize catechisms, meting out barn whippings for failures, equating pain with divine discipline. This violence transcends physical torture to become spiritual castration—McEachern declares Joe’s mixed blood”marked by Satan,” binding his racial identity to moral depravity and annihilating selfhood. Religious repression also warps Joe’s sexuality: after his encounter with a waitress, McEachern publicly whips him, demanding repentance for”defiling white purity,”cementing Joe’s association of desire with violence. Faulkner exposes such “divinely justified”abuse as a mechanism of power, where Puritan ethics mask racial and patriarchal domination. Joe’s patricide—killing McEachern—becomes both rebellion against religious violence and a compulsive reenactment of trauma. Unable to escape his internalized “sinner” identity, he ultimately submits to lynching, absurdly fulfilling the Puritan judgment he sought to destroy.
麦凯克恩对乔·克里斯蒂安斯的宗教暴力是福克纳解构清教徒压迫的核心，病态地塑造了乔的心理。作为一个狂热的加尔文主义者，麦凯克恩将圣经教义武器化：他强迫年轻的乔背诵教义问答，对失败者进行鞭打，将痛苦等同于神圣的管教。这种暴力超越了身体上的折磨，变成了精神上的阉割——麦凯克恩宣称乔的混血“带有撒旦的印记”，将他的种族身份与道德堕落捆绑在一起，并摧毁了自我。宗教压制也扭曲了乔的性取向：在他遇到一名女服务员后，麦凯克恩公开鞭打他，要求他为“玷污白人纯洁”而悔改，巩固了乔将欲望与暴力联系在一起。福克纳将这种“神所道理”的滥用揭露为一种权力机制，清教徒的道德规范掩盖了种族和父权制的统治。乔的弑父行为——杀死麦凯克恩——既成为对宗教暴力的反抗，也是对创伤的强迫性重演。由于无法摆脱他内在的“罪人”身份，他最终屈服于私刑，荒谬地履行了他试图摧毁的清教徒审判。

3.3 Embodiment of Religious Trauma
3.3 宗教创伤的体现

3.3.1 Oppression of Puritan Ethics
3.3.1 对清教徒伦理的压迫

Puritanical ethics in Light in August manifest as a violent ideology, embodied by Joe Christmas’s adoptive father McEachern, who enacts physical and spiritual annihilation. McEachern perverts Calvinist “predestination” into a tool of absolute control: he forces Joe to memorize catechisms, whipping him for “impiety,” declaring that “only through pain can the sin in your blood be cleansed”. Puritan doctrine binds Joe’s mixed-race identity to “moral depravity,” trapping him in an eternal curse of “original sin”—he is deemed “unclean” for his Black ancestry and accused of “racial betrayal” for his white lineage. Faulkner employs Gothic metaphor to expose Puritan ethics as religiously sanctified racism: McEachern’s violent discipline serves not faith but a purification ritual of the “other.” This oppression further distorts Joe’s sexuality: Puritan ethics stigmatize his desires as “Satanic temptation,” driving him to vent urges through violence. Joe’s death absurdly fulfills Puritan judgment—the lynch mob chants “Amen” while burning his corpse , exposing how Southern society conflates religious fervor with racial violence as “divine justice.” Faulkner thus critiques Puritanism’s dehumanizing core: its so-called “redemption” enacts structural violence, imprisoning individuals in cycles of self-loathing and destruction.
《 八月之光 》中的清教徒伦理表现为一种暴力意识形态，乔·克里斯马斯的养父麦凯克恩 （McEachern） 体现了这种意识形态，他实施了肉体和精神上的毁灭。麦凯克恩将加尔文主义的“预定论”扭曲为绝对控制的工具：他强迫乔背诵教义问答，鞭打他“不虔诚”，宣称“只有通过痛苦才能清洗你血液中的罪”。清教徒教义将乔的混血身份与“道德堕落”捆绑在一起，使他陷入“原罪”的永恒诅咒中——他的黑人血统被认为是“不洁的”，并被指责为他的白人血统的“种族背叛”。福克纳使用哥特式的比喻来揭露清教徒伦理是宗教神圣化的种族主义：麦凯克恩的暴力管教不是为了信仰，而是为了净化“他者”的仪式。这种压迫进一步扭曲了乔的性取向：清教徒的道德规范将他的欲望污名化为“撒旦的诱惑”，驱使他通过暴力发泄冲动。乔的死荒谬地实现了清教徒的审判——私刑暴徒在焚烧他的尸体时高呼“阿门”，揭露了南方社会如何将宗教狂热与种族暴力混为一谈，即“神圣的正义”。因此，福克纳批评了清教主义的非人性核心：其所谓的“救赎”实施了结构性暴力，将个人囚禁在自我厌恶和毁灭的循环中。

3.3.2 The Futility of Redemption
3.3.2 救赎的徒劳

Joe Christmas’s yearning for redemption is perpetually negated by structural violence in Faulkner’s narrative—his tragedy lies in a society that condemns him as “sinful” yet systematically denies him redemption. McEachern’s Puritan discipline reduces salvation to violent penance (“Only blood can cleanse your sin,” Chapter 7), while Joanna Burden’s attempts to “save” him through religious zeal replicate the same oppressive logic. Joe’s rebellions—killing McEachern, his destructive relationship with Joanna—are efforts to shatter the false premise of redemption through violence, yet they only amplify his guilt and alienation. Faulkner deconstructs Christian salvation through Joe’s death: when the lynch mob burns his corpse while chanting “Amen” , religious ritual becomes a veneer for collective brutality, and Joe’s calm acceptance of death signals his ultimate disillusionment with redemption. His name “Christmas” ironically contrasts with the Christian metaphor of rebirth—his end is not resurrection but eternal erasure. Faulkner thus exposes redemption as a discursive lie in a South complicit in racism and Puritan hypocrisy,where marginalized individuals are trapped in a pathological cycle of “sin and punishment.”
乔·克里斯马斯对救赎的渴望永远被福克纳叙述中的结构性暴力所否定——他的悲剧在于一个谴责他“有罪”但又系统性地否认他得到救赎的社会。麦凯克恩的清教徒纪律将救赎简化为暴力的忏悔（“只有血能洗净你的罪”，第 7 章），而乔安娜·伯登 （Joanna Burden） 试图通过宗教热情来“拯救”他， 则复制了同样的压迫逻辑。 乔的叛逆——杀死麦凯克恩，他与乔安娜的破坏性关系——是通过暴力打破救赎的错误前提的努力，但它们只会放大他的内疚和疏离感。福克纳通过乔的死解构了基督教的救赎：当私刑暴徒一边高呼“阿门”一边焚烧他的尸体时，宗教仪式变成了集体残暴的外衣，而乔对死亡的冷静接受标志着他对救赎的最终幻灭。他的名字“圣诞节”与基督教的重生隐喻形成讽刺性的对比——他的结局不是复活，而是永恒的抹去。因此，福克纳揭露了救赎在南方的话语谎言中，是种族主义和清教徒虚伪的同谋 ，边缘化的个人被困在“罪与罚”的病态循环中。

Chapter Four Causes of Joe’s Tragedy in Light in August
第四章 乔八月悲剧的原因

The detailed analysis in Chapter 3 has systematically outlined the accumulation of Joe Christmas’s traumas in Light in August, including childhood abuse, racial identity fragmentation, and social exclusion. Yet merely cataloging traumatic events cannot explain the inevitability of his tragedy—how does trauma’s destructive force interact with external social structures to culminate in total individual collapse? Chapter 4 shifts to an intersection of trauma theory and cultural criticism, interrogating how Southern Puritanism’s moral discipline, institutionalized racism, and the historical trauma of slavery collectively weave a web of structural violence. This network not only amplifies Joe’s personal trauma but also traps him in an inescapable cycle of fate. By examining the interplay between textual details and sociocultural contexts, this chapter aims to demonstrate that tragedy is never accidental but an inevitable outcome of collusion between psychological wounds and systemic violence.
第 3 章的详细分析系统地概述了 Joe Christmas 在 Light in August 中创伤的积累 ，包括童年虐待、种族身份碎片化和社会排斥。然而，仅仅对创伤事件进行分类并不能解释他的悲剧的必然性——创伤的破坏力如何与外部社会结构相互作用，最终导致个人的全面崩溃？第 4 章转向创伤理论和文化批评的交叉点，质疑南方清教主义的道德纪律、制度化的种族主义和奴隶制的历史创伤如何共同编织一张结构性暴力的网络。这个网络不仅放大了乔的个人创伤，也使他陷入了无法逃避的命运循环中。通过研究文本细节和社会文化背景之间的相互作用，本章旨在证明悲剧从来都不是偶然的，而是心理创伤和系统性暴力勾结的必然结果。

4.1 Institiutional Violence in the Southern Racial Hierarchy
4.1 南方种族等级制度中的机构暴力

4.1.1 The Violent Nature of Ricial Binary Opposition
4.1.1 Ricial 二元对立的暴力性质

In Joe Christmas’s tragic life, racism is undoubtedly the root cause of his suffering. Centuries of racial prejudice and hatred act like an invisible force, controlling every individual. It transforms Jefferson into a grand stage, where the townspeople, under its manipulation, enact a frenzied racial farce. The town’s collective actions—ostracism, surveillance, and ultimately lynching—reveal how systemic racism dehumanizes both the oppressed and the oppressors^[11]
在 Joe Christmas 悲惨的一生中，种族主义无疑是他痛苦的根源。几个世纪以来的种族偏见和仇恨就像一股无形的力量，控制着每一个人。它将杰斐逊变成了一个宏伟的舞台，镇上的人在它的纵下，上演了一场疯狂的种族闹剧。该镇的集体行动——排斥、监视和最终的私刑——揭示了系统性种族主义如何使被压迫者和压迫者失去人性 ^[11].

Southern racism is built on an absolute binary logic of “Black or White,” and Joe Christmas’s mixed-race identity (his father suspected to be Black, his mother White) directly challenges this order. His existence is deemed a contamination of racial purity, leading his grandfather, Doc Hines, to label him a “devil’s spawn” and attempt to smother him at birth. This violent logic permeates his life: orphanage caretakers abuse him over suspicions of his Black ancestry; in Jefferson, white communities view him as a “potential threat,” while Black communities reject him. Through Joe’s “unclassifiable” identity, Faulkner exposes that Southern racism’s core lies not in preserving “purity” but in violently eliminating any “intermediate existence” that threatens the hierarchy.
南方种族主义建立在“黑或白”的绝对二元逻辑之上，而乔·克里斯马斯的混血身份（他的父亲被怀疑是黑人，他的母亲是白人）直接挑战了这一秩序。他的存在被认为是种族纯洁性的污染，导致他的祖父 Doc Hines 给他贴上了“魔鬼的后代”的标签，并试图在他出生时就扼杀他。这种暴力的逻辑渗透到他的生活中：孤儿院的看护人因为怀疑他的黑人血统而虐待他;在杰斐逊，白人社区将他视为“潜在威胁”，而黑人社区则拒绝他。通过乔的“无法分类”的身份，福克纳揭露了南方种族主义的核心不在于维护“纯洁”，而在于暴力消除任何威胁等级制度的“中间存在”。

4.1.2 The “Othering” of Mixed-Race Identity and Social Death
4.1.2 混血儿身份和社会死亡的“他者化”

Joe Christmas’s mixed-race identity renders him a perpetual “Other” in the Southern racial hierarchy—denied humanity by white society and labeled a “blood traitor” by Black communities. This “othering” operates through dual mechanisms of symbolic violence and spatial exclusion. First, the deprivation of naming rights reflects artificial identity control. The name “Christmas” arbitrarily assigned by an orphanage nurse, starkly contrasts with his blood-soaked origins—his mother’s death in childbirth and his grandfather’s infanticidal attempt. Society further redefines him through labels like “nigger” and “bastard”, embedding racial stigma into his existential core. Second, spatial segregation intensifies social death—Joe drifts between white churches, Black neighborhoods, and legal sanctuaries, becoming a “homeless specter”. Ultimately, the lynch mob’s chants of “Amen” while burning his corpse fuse physical annihilation with semiotic erasure, finalizing the denial of his humanity. Faulkner thus exposes how the South’s racial system reduces mixed-race individuals to “non-human” through othering, where social death signifies not merely identity negation but civilization’s violent eradication of difference. Trauma theory posits that such systemic othering, through repetitive symbolic and spatial violence, fixes individuals as eternal outsiders, transforming resistance into a self-destructive cycle. Joe’s erasure epitomizes the cost of existing outside rigid racial binaries in a society that equates difference with existential threat.
乔·圣诞节 （Joe Christmas） 的混血身份使他成为南方种族等级制度中永远的 “ 他者 ”——白人社会否认人性，被黑人社区贴上 “ 血统叛徒 ” 的标签 。这种 “ 他者化 ” 通过象征暴力和空间排斥的双重机制来运作。首先，剥夺命名权反映了人为的身份控制。 孤儿院护士随意命名的“ 圣诞节 ” 这个名字与他血腥的出身形成鲜明对比——他的母亲死于分娩，祖父试图杀害婴儿。社会通过 “ 黑鬼 ” 和 “ 混蛋 ” 等标签进一步重新定义他 ，将种族污名嵌入他的存在主义核心。其次，空间隔离加剧了社会性死亡——乔在白人教堂、黑人社区和合法庇护所之间徘徊，成为 “ 无家可归的幽灵 ”。最终，私刑暴徒在焚烧他的尸体时高呼 “ 阿门 ”， 将物理毁灭与符号学擦除融合在一起，最终否定了他的人性。因此，福克纳揭露了南方的种族制度如何通过他者化将混血个体贬低为 “ 非人类 ”，其中社会性死亡不仅意味着身份否定，还意味着文明对差异的暴力根除。 创伤理论认为，这种系统性的他者化，通过重复的象征和空间暴力，将个体固定为永恒的局外人，将抵抗转化为自我毁灭的循环。乔的抹杀集中体现了在一个将差异等同于生存威胁的社会中存在的外部僵化种族二元论的代价。

During his tenure as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia from 1957 to 1958, Faulkner was asked by a student whether Joe Christmas in Light in August truly had Black ancestry. He replied that this was merely “speculation” and elaborated on the root cause of Joe’s tragedy: “ I think that his tragedy was that he didn’t know what he was, and there was no way for him to find out. Which is the most tragic condition a man can find himself in—not to know what he is and to know that he will never know.” Through the author’s own words, we see that Faulkner placed Joe in an extreme existential predicament, where his inability to resolve his racial identity became the core of his tragic fate.^[19]
1957 年至 1958 年在弗吉尼亚大学担任驻校作家期间，一名学生问福克纳 8 月的《光明中的乔·圣诞节》是否真的有黑人血统。他回答说，这只是 “ 猜测 ”，并详细阐述了乔的悲剧的根本原因：“ 我认为他的悲剧在于他不知道自己是什么，也没有办法找出来。这是一个人可能发现自己所处的最悲惨的境地——不知道自己是什么，也不知道自己永远不会知道。“ 通过作者自己的话，我们看到福克纳将乔置于一个极端的生存困境中，他无法解决自己的种族身份成为他悲剧命运的核心。^[19]

4.1.3 Legal and Cultural Complicity in Racial Violence
4.1.3 种族暴力的法律和文化共谋

Joe Christmas’s tragedy starkly reveals the Southern legal and cultural systems’ complicity in racial violence. Far from upholding justice, legal institutions act as tools of white supremacy: when Joe is accused of Joanna’s murder, no trial occurs; instead, a lynch mob “delivers justice” with law enforcement and bystanders silently complicit. Faulkner illustrates that Southern law enforces “selective justice”—it exists solely to sustain racial hierarchy, not to protect individual rights. Culturally, the fusion of Puritan ethics and racism sanctifies violence: during the lynching, the mob castrates Joe and burns his corpse while chanting “Amen”, disguising racial murder as religious sacrifice. This cultural narrative frames violence as a “sacred duty”, absolving perpetrators of moral accountability. Economically, workplaces collude through exclusion—Joe is repeatedly fired due to his mixed-race identity, with employers citing “workplace harmony” to justify racial discrimination. Trauma theory emphasizes that legal-cultural complicity racial violence as “natural order” through institutional repetition, forcing victims to internalize oppression. Joe’s death transcends physical destruction; it epitomizes the systemic denial of humanity through collusive power structures. His fate underscores how institutions normalize brutality, rendering resistance both necessary and futile within a rigged moral economy.
乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmass） 的悲剧鲜明地揭示了南方法律和文化体系在种族暴力中的共谋。法律机构非但没有维护正义，反而充当了白人至上主义的工具：当乔被指控谋杀乔安拿时，没有进行审判;相反，私刑暴徒与执法部门一起“伸张正义”，旁观者默默地串谋。福克纳说明，南方法律执行“选择性正义”——它的存在只是为了维持种族等级制度，而不是为了保护个人权利。从文化上讲，清教徒伦理和种族主义的融合使暴力神圣化：在私刑期间，暴徒阉割了乔并焚烧了他的尸体，同时高呼“阿门”，将种族谋杀伪装成宗教祭祀。这种文化叙事将暴力视为一种“神圣的义务”，免除了肇事者的道德责任。从经济上讲，工作场所通过排斥而串通——Joe 因混血身份而多次被解雇，雇主以“工作场所和谐”为由为种族歧视辩护。创伤理论强调，法律-文化共谋 种族暴力 通过制度重复作为“自然秩序”，迫使受害者内化压迫。乔的死亡超越了肉体的毁灭;它集中体现了通过勾结的权力结构对人性的系统性否定。他的命运突显了机构如何将残暴正常化，使抵抗在纵的道德经济中既必要又徒劳。

4.2 Family Collapse and Disciplinary
4.2 家庭崩溃和纪律处分

4.2.1 The Absence of Biological Family and the Curse of Bloodline
4.2.1 亲生家庭的诞生与血统的诅咒

Joe’s biological family is shrouded in violence from the start: his mother, Milly, dies in childbirth due to her “racial transgression,” while his grandfather abandons him at an orphanage, declaring his bloodline “tainted white purity”. Blood ties become not a bond but a curse. Faulkner frames the family through Gothic imagery as a breeding ground for racial violence—Hines’s actions reflect not individual madness but the South’s pathological obsession with “blood purity.”
乔的亲生家庭从一开始就笼罩在暴力之中：他的母亲米莉因“种族违法”而死于难产，而他的祖父将他遗弃在孤儿院，宣布他的血统“被玷污的白色纯洁 ”。 血缘关系不再是一种纽带，而是一种诅咒。福克纳通过哥特式的意象将这个家庭塑造成种族暴力的温床——海因斯的行为反映的不是个人的疯狂，而是南方对“血液纯度”的病态痴迷。

4.2.2 The Orphanage as an Extension of Racial and Class Oppression
4.2.2 孤儿院是种族和阶级压迫的延伸

The orphanage is no sanctuary but a microcosm of Southern power structures. Caretakers subject Joe to physical abuse (whippings) and psychological humiliation (calling his blood “inherently inferior”) under the guise of “moral education.” When expelled for peeping at a female caretaker, the punishment stems not from his act but from the racist presumption that “Black blood breeds depravity”. The orphanage’s discipline molds Joe into a self-loathing subject, foreshadowing his adult violence.
孤儿院不是避难所，而是南方权力结构的缩影。看护人以“道德教育”为幌子，对乔进行身体虐待（鞭打）和心理羞辱（称他的血统“天生低劣”）。当因女性看护人而被开除时，惩罚不是源于他的行为，而是源于“黑人血统滋生堕落”的种族主义假设。孤儿院的纪律将乔塑造成一个自我厌恶的对象，预示着他成年后的暴力行为。

4.2.3 McEachern’s Patriarchal and Religious Authoritarian Violence
4.2.3 麦凯克恩的父权制和宗教威权主义暴力

McEachern’s Puritan fanaticism and patriarchal control compound Joe’s trauma. He forces Joe to memorize catechisms, meting out barn whippings for failures, declaring, “Pain is the only way to purify your blood”. This fusion of religious dogma and physical punishment equates faith with oppression. McEachern’s “divine patriarchy” doubly negates Joe: it denies the legitimacy of his mixed identity and obliterates his spiritual autonomy.
麦凯克恩的清教徒狂热和父权控制加剧了乔的创伤。他强迫乔背诵教义问答，对失败者进行谷仓鞭打，宣称：“痛苦是净化血液的唯一方法”。这种宗教教条和体罚的融合将信仰等同于压迫。麦凯克恩的“神圣父权制”双重否定了乔：它否认了他混合身份的合法性，并抹杀了他的精神自主权。

4.3 Puritanical Alienation and the Sanctification of Violence
4.3 清教徒的疏离和暴力的神圣化

4.3.1 Calvinist Predestination and the Denial of Individual Redemption
4.3.1 加尔文主义的预定论和对个人救赎的否认

McEachern’s Calvinist beliefs declare “salvation only for the elect,” predestining Joe as “damned” due to his mixed blood. This theological violence negates Joe’s moral agency: no matter his struggles, his ancestry condemns him to “eternal hell.” When Joe kills McEachern, the act is both patricide and rebellion against predestination—yet it merely perpetuates the cycle of violence.
麦凯克恩的加尔文主义信仰宣称“救赎只为选民”，由于乔的混血，他注定是“被诅咒的”。这种神学暴力否定了乔的道德能动性：无论他如何挣扎，他的祖先都注定他进入“永恒的地狱”。当乔杀死麦凯克恩时，这一行为既是弑父行为，也是对宿命论的反抗——但它只是使暴力的循环永久化。

4.3.2 Sexual Repression and the Pathologization of Moral Judgment
4.3.2 性压抑和道德判断的病态化

Puritan ethics equate sexuality with sin, while Joe’s mixed race pathologizes his sexual awakening as “racial degeneracy.” After his encounter with a waitress, McEachern publicly whips him, forcing a confession for “defiling white purity” . This trauma distorts Joe’s intimacy: his relationship with Joanna intertwines sex and violence, culminating in murder—a testament to Puritan logic that pathologizes desire as brutality.
清教徒伦理学将性等同于罪恶，而乔的混血儿将他的性觉醒病态化为“种族堕落”。在他遇到一名女服务员后，麦凯克恩公开鞭打他，强迫他承认“玷污了白色纯洁”。这种创伤扭曲了乔的亲密关系：他与乔安娜的关系与性和暴力交织在一起，最终以谋杀告终——这证明了清教徒将欲望病态为残忍的逻辑。

4.3.3 Lynching as the Ultimate Expression of Religious Violence
4.3.3 私刑是宗教暴力的终极表现

Joe’s lynching is staged as a “sacred trial”: the mob castrates him (symbolizing “purification of depravity”) and burns his corpse to chants of “Amen,” elevating racial murder to religious sacrifice. Faulkner exposes how Puritan ethics sanctify collective violence, allowing mobs to commit atrocities in God’s name. Joe’s death epitomizes the collusion of religious and racial violence. Joe’s tragedy stems from the collusion of race, family, and religion—a structural network of violence that turns resistance into self-destruction. Through Joe’s annihilation, Faulkner condemns the South’s systemic dehumanization of the “Other,” where institutions conspire to erase individuality and humanity.
乔的私刑被上演为“神圣的审判”：暴徒阉割他（象征着“净化堕落”），并在“阿门”的呼喊中焚烧他的尸体，将种族谋杀提升为宗教祭祀。福克纳揭露了清教徒伦理如何将集体暴力神圣化，允许暴徒以上帝的名义犯下暴行。乔的死是宗教和种族暴力勾结的缩影。乔的悲剧源于种族、家庭和宗教的勾结——一个将抵抗转化为自我毁灭的结构性暴力网络。通过乔的毁灭，福克纳谴责了南方对“他者”的系统性非人化，即机构合谋抹杀个性和人性。

Chapter Five Conclusion
第五章结论

Chapter Four employs an interdisciplinary framework of trauma theory and cultural criticism to systematically deconstruct the root causes of Joe Christmas’s tragedy: the violent nature of the Southern racial hierarchy, the interplay between familial collapse and religious oppression, and the institutional collusion of law and culture in racial violence. The research demonstrates that Joe’s self-destruction is not accidental but an inevitable outcome of structural violence enacted through racial categorization, spatial exclusion, and symbolic annihilation. His violent rebellions—patricide and Joanna’s murder—serve as both compulsive repetitions of trauma and desperate acts of resistance against systemic oppression. Yet individual defiance ultimately falters in the face of institutional complicity, as exemplified by the lynching scene , where violence is sanctified through religious ritual, culminating in the erasure of his humanity. These findings not only unravel the novel’s tragic logic but also foreground Faulkner’s profound critique of civilizational violence in the South. Building on this analysis, Chapter Five will examine the contemporary relevance of Light in August :as racial trauma and identity crises persist in evolving forms, Faulkner’s literary mirror offers ethical reflections and actionable pathways for modern individuals to dismantle cycles of violence.
第四章采用创伤理论和文化批评的跨学科框架，系统地解构了乔·圣诞节悲剧的根本原因：南方种族等级制度的暴力本质、家庭崩溃与宗教压迫之间的相互作用，以及种族暴力中法律和文化的制度性勾结。研究表明，乔的自我毁灭不是偶然的，而是通过种族分类、空间排斥和象征性毁灭实施的结构性暴力的必然结果。他的暴力反抗——弑父和乔安娜被谋杀——既是创伤的强迫性重复，也是对系统性压迫的绝望抵抗行为。然而，个人的反抗最终在制度性的共谋面前动摇了，正如私刑场景所体现的那样，暴力通过宗教仪式被神圣化，最终以他的人性被抹去而告终。这些发现不仅解开了小说的悲剧逻辑，也凸显了福克纳对南方文明暴力的深刻批判。基于这一分析，第五章将研究 《八月之光 》的当代相关性 ：随着种族创伤和身份危机以不断发展的形式持续存在，福克纳的文学镜子为现代个人提供了道德反思和可作的途径，以消除暴力的循环。

5.1 The Main Content of the Research
5.1 研究的 Main C 内容

This study centers on William Faulkner’s novel Light in August, employing trauma theory as the analytical framework to systematically investigate the tragic causes of the protagonist Joe Christmas. By examining Joe’s multi-dimensional traumas—racial identity conflict, childhood trauma, and religious oppression—the research reveals the intricate interplay between his tragic fate and structural violence in Southern society.
本研究以威廉·福克纳 （William Faulkner） 的小说 《 八月之光》（Light in August） 为中心 ，以创伤理论为分析框架，系统地调查了主人公乔·克里斯马斯 （Joe Christmas） 的悲剧原因。通过研究乔的多维创伤——种族身份冲突、童年创伤和宗教压迫——该研究揭示了他的悲剧命运与南方社会的结构性暴力之间错综复杂的相互作用。

First, through close reading integrated with trauma theory, the study outlines how Joe’s mixed-race identity is negated by the South’s rigid racial binary. His grandfather’s attempted infanticide, the orphanage’s violent discipline targeting his bloodline, and society’s persistent “othering” of his identity collectively demonstrate how legal, economic, and cultural institutions conspire to push Joe toward “social death.” Second, childhood trauma lays the psychological groundwork for his collapse: the absence of a biological family traps him in an identity void, orphanage abuse intensifies self-loathing, and his adoptive father McEachern’s religious violence warps his moral cognition. Finally, the entanglement of religious oppression and racial violence forms a fatal shackle—Puritan ethics sanctify violence in the name of “redemption,” while the lynching scene elevates racial murder to a sacred ritual.
首先，通过结合创伤理论的精读，该研究概述了乔的混血身份如何被南方僵化的种族二元论所否定。他的祖父企图杀害婴儿，孤儿院针对他的血统进行暴力管教，以及社会对他身份的持续 “ 他者化 ”， 这些共同表明了法律、经济和文化机构如何合谋将乔推向 “ 社会性死亡”。“ 其次，童年创伤为他的崩溃奠定了心理基础：没有亲生家庭让他陷入身份空白，孤儿院的虐待加剧了自我厌恶，养父麦凯克恩的宗教暴力扭曲了他的道德认知。最后，宗教压迫和种族暴力的纠缠形成了一个致命的枷锁——清教徒伦理以 “ 救赎 ” 的名义将暴力神圣化， 而私刑场景将种族谋杀提升为一种神圣的仪式。

The study concludes that Joe’s tragedy is not a result of personal choice but an inevitable outcome of Southern structural violence. Trauma theory elucidates the interaction between individual and historical traumas: the racial hierarchy, familial collapse, and religious alienation collectively weave an inescapable web of violence, reducing Joe’s rebellions to compulsive repetitions of trauma. Through Joe’s destruction, Faulkner critiques the institutionalized violence masked as “purity”in the American South and warns against the enduring oppression of marginalized individuals by implicit power structures in modern society.
该研究得出的结论是，乔的悲剧不是个人选择的结果，而是南方结构性暴力的必然结果。创伤理论阐明了个人创伤和历史创伤之间的相互作用：种族等级制度、家庭崩溃和宗教疏远共同编织了一张无法逃避的暴力网络，将乔的叛逆简化为创伤的强迫性重复。通过乔的毁灭，福克纳批评了美国南方被掩盖为“ 纯洁 ” 的制度化暴力， 并警告人们不要在现代社会中隐性权力结构对边缘化个体进行持久压迫。

5.2 The Inlightment to the Modern Sociaty
5.2 现代社会的启蒙

The tragedy of Joe Christmas transcends personal failure, serving as Faulkner’s ultimate indictment of Southern structural violence. Racism, Puritan repression, and familial collapse conspire into an inescapable web: the lynching scene sanctifies racial murder through religious ritual, law condones brutality, and bloodline becomes original sin—exposing how systems devour humanity. Joe’s mixed-race identity renders him a perpetual “Other,” and his violent acts (patricide, Joanna’s murder) spiral into self-destruction, reflecting how social oppression deforms the psyche—when denied legitimacy, resistance degenerates into pathological violence. Faulkner encodes Southern historical trauma through Gothic imagery (bloody lynching, twisted families), elevating Joe’s demise into an allegory of American racial and religious violence. The novel challenges modernity: Do the ghosts of slavery and Puritan hypocrisy still linger. Light in August thus transcends its era as a timeless mirror to human alienation and collective guilt.
乔·圣诞节的悲剧超越了个人的失败，是福克纳对南方结构性暴力的最终控诉。种族主义、清教徒的压迫和家庭崩溃合谋成一张无法逃脱的网：私刑场景通过宗教仪式将种族谋杀神圣化，法律宽恕残暴，血统成为原罪——暴露了制度如何吞噬人性。乔的混血身份使他成为永远的“他者”，他的暴力行为（弑父、乔安娜被谋杀）螺旋式地走向自我毁灭，反映了社会压迫如何扭曲心灵——当被剥夺合法性时，抵抗就会退化为病态的暴力。福克纳通过哥特式意象（血腥的私刑、扭曲的家庭）编码南方历史创伤，将乔的死亡提升为美国种族和宗教暴力的寓言。这部小说挑战了现代性：奴隶制和清教徒虚伪的幽灵是否仍然存在 。 因此，《八月之光 》 超越了它的时代，成为人类疏离和集体罪恶的永恒镜子。

This study, grounded in trauma theory, systematically uncovers the multidimensional causes of Joe Christmas’s tragedy in Light in August, addressing a gap in traditional Faulkner scholarship regarding the interaction between individual psychological mechanisms and historical violence. By integrating theoretical tools such as “compulsive repetition” and “intergenerational trauma,” the research not only deepens the interpretation of the connections between Joe’s biracial identity, violent behavior, and Southern racial structures but also critically exposes the operational logic of implicit power discipline in literary texts. Furthermore, bridging textual analysis with contemporary issues, the study demonstrates trauma theory’s explanatory power in addressing modern social challenges like racial conflict and identity politics, offering a model for interdisciplinary literary research.
这项研究以创伤理论为基础，系统地揭示了乔·圣诞节悲剧的多维原因 在八月之光中，解决了传统福克纳学术研究中关于个人心理机制与历史暴力之间相互作用的空白。通过整合“强迫性重复”和“代际创伤”等理论工具，研究不仅加深了对乔的混血身份、暴力行为和南方种族结构之间联系的解读，而且批判性地揭示了文学文本中隐性权力纪律的运作逻辑此外，该研究将文本分析与当代问题联系起来，展示了创伤理论在解决种族冲突和身份政治等现代社会挑战方面的解释力，为跨学科文学研究提供了模式。

The tragedy of Light in August lies not only in Joe’s personal fate but also in its reflection of collective trauma. Joe’s tragedy teaches that ending cycles of violence requires collective action. Schools can teach cultural diversity to foster respect; companies might adopt “blind hiring” to reduce bias; communities can build support groups for trauma survivors. Ordinary people matter too: rejecting online hate speech or amplifying marginalized voices, much like Lena Grove’s quiet resilience. True change avoids “savior complexes”—it demands equality, not pity. South Korea’s Me Too movement, where women’s shared trauma drove legal reforms, exemplifies this power. Literature isn’t just history—it’s a call to conscience. Joe’s tragedy reminds us: Every small action can stop the next tragedy.
《八月之光 》的悲剧不仅在于乔的个人命运，还在于它对集体创伤的反映。乔的悲剧告诉我们，结束暴力循环需要集体行动。学校可以教授文化多样性以促进尊重;公司可以采用“盲目招聘”来减少偏见;社区可以为创伤幸存者建立支持小组。普通人也很重要：拒绝网上的仇恨言论或放大边缘化的声音，就像 Lena Grove 安静的韧性一样。真正的改变会避免“救世主情结”——它需要平等，而不是怜悯。韩国的 Me Too 运动就是这种力量的例证，女性共同的创伤推动了法律改革。文学不仅仅是历史， 更是对良知的呼唤。乔的悲剧提醒我们：每一个小小的举动，都能阻止下一场悲剧。

Joe Christmas’s tragedy, though set a century ago, mirrors modern societal struggles. His biracial identity, rejected by both Black and white communities, echoes today’s identity crises—immigrant children torn between cultures or professionals facing subtle discrimination. The violence in Faulkner’s South (lynchings, religious oppression) now appears as cyberbullying, hate crimes, or systemic inequality. The 2020 George Floyd protests, like the novel’s “silent crowd watching a lynching,” reveal how discrimination and violence persist, merely evolving in form.
乔·克里斯马斯的悲剧虽然发生在一个世纪前，但它反映了现代社会的斗争。他的混血儿身份被黑人和白人社区所排斥，这与当今的身份危机相呼应——在文化之间挣扎的移民儿童或面临微妙歧视的专业人士。福克纳笔下的南方的暴力（私刑、宗教压迫）现在表现为网络欺凌、仇恨犯罪或系统性不平等。2020 年乔治·弗洛伊德 （George Floyd） 的抗议活动，就像小说中“沉默的人群观看私刑”一样，揭示了歧视和暴力是如何持续存在的，只是在形式上发生了变化。

5.3 Research Limitations
5.3 研究限制

While this study offers a novel approach to interpreting tragedy in Light in August through trauma theory, it has limitations. First, insufficient exploration of the traumatic dimensions of secondary characters (e.g., Lena Grove’s maternal narrative, Byron Bunch’s moral struggles) may weaken the holistic understanding of the text. Second, the singular theoretical framework (centered on trauma theory) inadequately addresses the polyphonic and polysemous nature of Faulkner’s work, such as the intricate interplay of religious symbolism and Southern Gothic aesthetics. Future research could integrate postcolonial theory or gender studies to analyze the dynamic relationship between trauma and power across spatial and bodily dimensions, thereby more comprehensively uncovering the genealogy of violence and possibilities of redemption in Southern literature.
虽然这项研究提供了一种通过创伤理论解释 Light in August 悲剧的新方法，但它也有局限性。首先，对次要人物的创伤维度（例如，Lena Grove 的母性叙述、Byron Bunch 的道德斗争）的探索不足可能会削弱对文本的整体理解。其次，单一的理论框架（以创伤理论为中心）没有充分解决福克纳作品的复调和多义性质，例如宗教象征主义和南方哥特式美学错综复杂的相互作用。未来的研究可以整合后殖民理论或性别研究，以分析创伤与权力之间跨空间和身体维度的动态关系，从而更全面地揭示南方文学中暴力的谱系和救赎的可能性。

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Acknowledgments
确认

At this juncture marking the conclusion of my collegiate journey, a surge of emotions overwhelms my heart. First and foremost, I wish to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Zhang Xichang. His scholarly rigor, erudition, and unwavering commitment to academic excellence have earned my deepest respect. It has been my distinct privilege to receive his sagacious guidance, which proved instrumental in the successful completion of my thesis.
在这个标志着我大学之旅结束的时刻，一股情绪淹没了我的心。首先，我要对我的导师张希昌教授表示深深的感谢。他的学术严谨性、博学多才和对学术卓越的坚定承诺赢得了我最深切的敬意。我很荣幸能得到他睿智的指导，事实证明，这对我成功完成论文起到了重要作用。

Secondly, my heartfelt appreciation extends to my family. Born into an ordinary household, I remain acutely aware that without my parents’ steadfast support and sacrifices, this academic milestone would remain unattainable. I pledge to honor this legacy of love and expectations, striving to forge a path of stability and enduring significance in my future endeavors.
其次，我衷心感谢我的家人。出生在一个普通家庭的我仍然敏锐地意识到，如果没有父母的坚定支持和牺牲，这个学术里程碑将无法实现。我承诺尊重这份充满爱和期望的遗产，努力在我未来的努力中开辟一条稳定和持久意义的道路。

Lastly, I cherish profound appreciation for every genuine companion encountered over these twenty years. Particularly, my dear roommates have been radiant hues that illuminated my existence. Regardless of future circumstances, the memories we co-created shall remain eternally engraved in my consciousness. May our shared recollections kindle in you the same warmth I feel when reminiscing our camaraderie.
最后，我对这二十年来遇到的每一位真诚的伴侣怀有深深的感激之情。特别是，我亲爱的室友们是照亮我存在的光芒四射的色调。无论未来情况如何，我们共同创造的记忆都将永远铭刻在我的意识中。愿我们共同的回忆在你心中点燃我回忆我们的友情时所感受到的温暖。

As time surges forward like a mighty torrent, I remain steadfast in the conviction that where destiny intertwines, fate will orchestrate our reunion.
随着时间像一股强大的洪流一样向前涌动，我仍然坚信，在命运交织的地方，命运将安排我们的重逢。