Childhood Trauma, Rehabilitation and Resilience And Survival In Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out Of Carolina

Trauma fiction is a genre that tends to focus on the different ways in which the novelists of the contemporary literary world, explore the concept of trauma through storytelling. It usually involves the author’s memories of any traumatic event in their life. This paper will examine the impact of trauma on one’s psyche and the struggles to overcome the negativity to survive and thrive. This paper will examine the concept of trauma in the life of the protagonist of the novel chosen for study, Bastard out of Carolina. The protagonist is Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright, a little girl born to a fifteen-year-old unmarried mother, Anney. The hospital staff discover that the baby girl is illegitimate and declare that she is a “bastard”, as she is born out of wedlock. The struggles and sufferings of both mother and child are portrayed vividly, as well as the resilience of the human spirit.