“Was determined to put behind her the madness of the past—or as much as a vulnerable and memory-racked mind permitted—” (Styron 94).

Sula's author, Toni Morrison, employs literature throughout the book to explain how Sula overcomes trauma in her life as she faces challenges that call into question her identity and the woman she is now becoming.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography written by Maya Angelou, illustrates from the perspective of a young child growing into an independent woman of how traumatic events at a young age can have a life altering effect on a person's life.

In William Styron’s book, Sophie’s Choice, the female protagonist, Sophie is illustrated with two motivating desires: to live her life fully while escaping old memories, and to accept the consequences from her past even in the face of trauma Sophie demonstrates the grit of an American woman.

The novel Sula, written by Toni Morrison, uses literature to illustrates the female protagonist Sula as a heroine who experiences life altering events where she will need to either show courage and strength or let trauma control her decisions and lifestyle.

“When I refused to be the child they knew and accepted me to be, I was called impudent and my muteness sullenness” (Angelou 88).

William Styron, the author of Sophie's Choice, depicts a heroine named Sophie who must face the hardships of survival while attempting to leave her old self behind.

“Exposure to horrific events can have traumatizing effects on individuals and a mobilizing impact on society… Bearing witness to an event, having to listen to explicit accounts of a traumatic event, or even having explicit knowledge of an event have been shown to cause serious, prolonged anxiety in varying degrees” (Pillemer).

“The psychology of memory points to a personal benefit: the healing aspects of purposeful remembrance. Historical periods of violence and catastrophe [can] inspire [autobiographies] in part because individual survivors feel a pressing psychological imperative to articulate their suffering, as a form of working through” (Pillemer).