Spirituality and Recovery from Trauma : An Analysis of Alice Sebold\u27s Construction of The Lovely Bones

In this paper I discuss the experience of emergent spirituality in individuals who have suffered traumatic experiences that resulted in the destruction of their dignity as human beings. This includes such people as victims of rape or violent attack, soldiers returning from battlefields and concentration camp survivors. I first demonstrate how researchers such as Judith L. Herman approach issues surrounding PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Secondly, I examine the creation process of The Lovely Bones, written by Alice Sebold, a rape survivor. In modern societies, traumatic events at times inspire spirituality rather than "religion." There is a type of spirituality that we can only understand from spiritual pains caused by traumatic experiences and from the process of recovery from such events. Through analyzing the experiences Sebold suffered and the process of the production of her novel, I examine how survivors of serious psychological and physical damage attempt to search for new ways to live, and how spirituality emerges in the lives of these individuals