Yonghua Huang
College of Foreign Languages, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia, China.
*Corresponding author: Yonghua Huang
Abstract
The Ferryman, written by the British writer Claire McFall, is a soul-healing novel that touches millions of readers. It tells a story of a teenage girl named Dylan who takes a train to visit her long-lost father, but is killed in a train accident. She then meets her soul ferryman, teenage Tristan, whose task is to lead souls to their destinations across the wasteland. The main thread driving the development of the story is the desperate and brave struggle of the two traumatized characters, Tristan escorting Dylan to her soul destination and Dylan counter-ferrying Tristan to the human world. Through a gradual awakening to protect each other and reestablish close social relationships, they cure themselves of the trauma they have suffered and redefine the meaning of love and life. Based on Judith Herman’s trauma theory, this paper analyzes trauma suffered by the main characters and their ultimate recovery from trauma and explores the gradual changes in their personalities and behaviors, which lead to their psychological growth and maturity.
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How to cite this paper
Trauma and Recovery: Analysis of the Main Characters in The Ferryman
How to cite this paper: Yonghua Huang. (2025) Trauma and Recovery: Analysis of the Main Characters in The Ferryman. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(11), 2143-2147.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.11.011