Return And Reform

Initiation, as a universal cultural phenomenon and an important individual experience in human life, offers infinite space for literature creation and becomes an everlasting theme of literature. The problem of the youth has always been one focus of American literature. In different periods of American history, a large number of famous authors produce a lot of works concerning the youth's psychological journey of initiation. Consequently, a special mode of literature is formed in America—initiation stories. In 2005, the Guide of the National Social Sciences Funded Subjects for the first time put on its list the studies on European and American Bildungsroman (initiation stories), requiring scholars to study the themes, structures, narratives and influences of novels of this literary genre. No doubt, this guide not only reminds us of the importance of this genre but also points out for us a new direction of studies.Toni Morrison is a famous African-American writer who got Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. Rooted in African-Americans'particular history, legends and real life, Morrison's works explore the fates and spirits of the blacks, criticize the evil racism, and praise the enduring history and culture of black people. Song of Solomon is Morrison's first awarded work and her only novel that has a male protagonist. The novel focuses on the initiation and awakening of Milkman, the protagonist.Morrison inherits the mode of traditional Bildungsroman in her creation of Song of Solomon in which typical features of Bildungsroman can be observed. Because of Morrison's particular black identity, domestic scholars often cast eyesight on racial problems, leaving in the shadow the initiation theme, the growing character, the initiation rituals, and the relationships between structural plots and initiation of characters. In addition, because of the particular history and reality of the blacks together with the features of the period the author lives in, Morrison rewrites the traditional Bildungsroman in her creation of the protagonist, the plots and the structure. Therefore, this thesis attempts to discuss Song of Solomon from the perspective of Bildungsroman, analyze how the novel adopts and reforms the traditional Bildungsroman in the aspects of the character, the theme, plots and the structure, and finally prove Song of Solomon is a Bildungsroman returned and reformed as well.The main body of this thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is the theoretical framework which provides definitions of initiation stories, Bildungsroman, characteristics of Bidungsroman, some important European and American Bildungsromans and their traditions of writing.The second chapter illustrates that Song of Solomon is a returning to the traditional Bildungsroman because it displays three features of traditional Bildungsroman: male protagonist, the journey theme, and initiation rituals. The first part of this chapter centers on the male protagonist Milkman, explaining his"fatherlessness", his alienation from the surroundings, and his informal education. In traditional Bildungsroman, the protagonist is often an orphan or is fatherless, who lacks faith, feels alienated from surroundings, but with the teaching of his mentors becomes enlightened, and eventually realizes self and the meaning of life. The second part interprets the journey theme or starting-off plot which is one of the basic structural elements of a Bildungsroman. Milkman breaks up with his family by going to the South to find gold, experiences some tests, achieves a full understanding of self and other people, and fulfills his symbolic initiation rituals. The last part of this chapter deals with initiation rituals loaded with African culture and explores their significance for Milkman's initiation. These rituals include hunting, bathing and flying.The third chapter expounds that Morrison, as a black female writer of the twentieth-century, rewrites the traditional Bildungsroman with her consideration for the particular history and reality of blacks, and reflects the particularity of black people's initiation. This chapter is written in the following four aspects: first of all, Morrison revises the traditional dominant white protagonist in a Bildungsroman and portrays a black of the middle class whose marginal identity contributes to his weak racial and class awareness. Next, different from the heroes of traditional Bildungsroman who move from the rural area to the city and the common blacks who migrate from the South to the North, Milkman moves from the corruptive north city to his ancestral South. Then, Morrison juxtaposes anti-Bildung with Bildung in the novel. She makes Guitar's"growing down"as a foil to Milkman's growing up. Finally, Morrison renovates the linear structure of the traditional Bildungsroman and develops a circular structure—one representative feature of modern Bildungsroman by using flashbacks and comparisons.The three chapters unite and correlate closely with each other. The whole thesis interprets fully the relevant theories of Bildungsroman on which domestic studies are comparatively rare. It exposes the linkages of Milkman's initiation experiences and the coming of age of European and American common youth. Furthermore, it makes the particularity of black people's initiation stand out. Only by accepting their African values and cultural heritage can the blacks identify themselves, realize their true self and the meaning of life, and gain their complete initiation and freedom. Morrison's flexible adopting of the traditional European Bildungsroman is a demonstration of her enduring charm of creating vivid and perfect art as a literary master.