Transgenerational Trauma

 A new dissertation devoted to Emily Brontë:

“Time stagnates here”: Transgenerational Trauma in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
Edurne Garrido Giménez
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Estudios Ingleses 

Universidad de Zaragoza, 2021

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the existence of transgenerational trauma in Emily

Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847). Such analysis will be carried out within the framework of Trauma Studies in the expectation of offering a new perspective to this classical novel. To do so, this dissertation is divided into two parts: the first one starts by examining the impact of domestic violence on Heathcliff as well as his unsuccessful attempts to integrate the traumatic experiences in his life. It is this lack of a healthy processing of trauma that makes him turn into the perpetrator of violence in the second generation. The first part also identifies the indicators of transgenerational trauma already present in the Earnshaw family, as to prove that trauma was present even before Heathcliff’s arrival. The second part focuses on the second generation and draws a comparison between Heathcliff and Hareton’s similar abusive behaviors in order to explore the effects of

Heathcliff’s violence in Hareton. This section also explores characters like Nelly, Edgar and Catherine Linton and their decisive role in the interruption of the transgenerational repetition oftrauma. In fact, it is Catherine —thanks to her healthy upbringing by Edgar and Nelly— the onewho increases Hareton’s chances of ceasing the cyclic repetition of violence in the Heights,resulting ultimately in a healthier notion of the family.