English

Trauma in Coming of Age Comics

Date of Award

2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

Chief Instructor

Esther Jones

Second Reader

Mita Banerjee

Third Reader

Lisa Kasmer

Keywords

Modern literature

Abstract

This thesis discusses in how far modern comics have shown their viability as a medium to tell of and work through trauma that has been experienced during childhood. Touching upon contemporary trauma theory, four graphic narratives published in the early 2000s are analyzed in how they approach telling autobiographic stories of teenage trauma, trauma of childhood sickness, and trauma experienced during juvenile processes of identity formation.

My results will show that comics are more than adequate vessels to tell trauma narratives with, in most cases even being able to make trauma tangible without using words to describe it.

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