I Kill Giants Character Analysis

The word ‘trauma’ is derived from the Greek word for ‘wound’ and is defined as a wound that is inflicted by a sudden mental shock caused by a traumatic event. For Barbara Thorson in I Kill Giants, trauma takes over her everyday life. In order to escape the harsh reality of her everyday life, where her mother is dying from cancer, Barbara creates her own imaginary world where she has the power to kill giants. From experiencing trauma at a young age, Barbara has social and developmental issues. Barbara’s struggles handling her trauma are best demonstrated through Barbara’s third and fourth meetings with Mrs. Molle. When Barbara meets with Mrs. Molle the third time, she refuses to discuss her trauma. When Mrs. Molle attempts to get Barbara to talk about her home life, Barbara is driven to the point of slapping Mrs. Molle in the face. Barbara’s refusal to …show more content…
Molle, Barbara explains why she kills giants. She mentions that giants take everything from you and that if she’s strong enough, she can “stop death itself” (Kelly). The giants that Barbara creates in her imaginary world represent her trauma. Barbara does not understand how to handle the eventual death of her mother, so she creates giants in order to face death itself. She creates a world where she can fight what cannot be fought. Barbara lives through her trauma, repeating the same fight against a faceless foe. This idea of repeating traumatic events is discussed in the journal article, “The Difficulties of Verbalizing Trauma: Translation and the Economy of Loss in Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah",” when it says that “repetition is addressed to incomprehension” (qtd. in Stoicea 48). The article discusses how the translation of Holocaust survivors’ testimonies serves as repetition to help the listener better understand the survivors’ trauma. This is similar to how Barbara handles her trauma. Barbara repeats the fantasy of killing giants so that she could make sense out of her real