From Victim to Victor: The Role of Psychological Trauma in the Transformation of Sidney Sheldon’s Heroine in “ If Tomorrow Comes”
Keywords:
Sidney Sheldon, trauma, psychological transformationAbstract
This article investigates the psychological evolution of Tracy Whitney, the central figure in Sidney Sheldon’s If Tomorrow Comes, within the overlapping disciplines of trauma studies and feminist psychology. At the outset, Tracy is depicted as a trusting, principled individual, yet her world disintegrates beneath the weight of personal treachery, wrongful imprisonment, and systemic oppression. By combining close textual reading with trauma-informed and feminist analytical lenses, the inquiry traces how these cumulative shocks precipitate her metamorphosis into a disciplined, calculating, and ultimately empowered agent. The analysis contends that Sheldon subverts conventional gender expectations by granting Tracy the agency to reconstruct her identity and command her fate through acumen and determination, thus illuminating the reciprocal dynamics of trauma, resilience, and transformation that animate the subgenre of female detective fiction.
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