Working Through the Trauma in the John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars

Abstract

This thesis examines the traumatic experiences of the characters and the ways they respond to it in John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars. The study uses Dominic LaCapra’s concept of “working through trauma” and “acting out trauma” to analyze the text. In the novel, the characters who are the cancer victims cope with their trauma by sharing their pain with friends, family and reading the novels. This study argues that trauma can be lessened by giving an outlet to the sufferings through literary activities and other sharing mechanisms. [Key words: trauma, working through, acting out, psychological trauma]