In this paper I will explore Ariel Levy’s The Rules Do Not Apply through the lens of trauma theory. In accordance with second wave trauma theory, Levy is able to put words to the experience of losing her baby at nineteen weeks gestation. But, consistent with first wave trauma theory, meaning is ruptured for her in the aftermath of her son’s birth and death. This disconnect is reflective of what Janoff-Bulman would call “the assumptive world,” broadly speaking, a “set of fundamental beliefs that represents our understanding of ourselves, others, and our world” (Shattered Assumptions). Levy admits as much when she writes that “women of my generation were given the lavish gift of our own agency by feminism” (69), but the expectation that we can determine our own lives is deeply shaken when Levy loses her son. This paper will touch on the intersection of trauma, privilege, and identity; prolonged grief; narrative and traumatic memory; and the possibility of finding meaning in the aftermath of trauma.