Initiation Novel And Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome And Summer

American woman writer, Edith Wharton was born in 1862, she is one of the leading-American figures of Realism at the beginning of the 20th century. Her works Ethan Frome and Summer tell two tragic stories of two lower-class adolescents, who rebel against reality, pursue ideal world but are trapped in reality, which reveals their inner conflicts and struggle during their initiation process. This thesis attempts to explore the initiation theme and its constitutes of these works and how the initiation theme is visualized.The initiation story narrates the initiation process focusing on initiation theme. It reveals and reflects spiritual and psychological change process from childhood to adulthood through the plot pattern of escape, test, confusion, epiphany and realization of the self and reality. Ethan Frome and Summer are stories dealing with initiation theme. Familial and social environments deeply affect Ethan Frome and Charity Royall's initiation processes in two novels. They suffer from confusion, pain, struggle and conflicts when they rebel against traditional conventions and pursue love, friendship and ideal world. These two initiation stories are set in remote, poor, isolated and rural countryside in Massachusetts. Both the protagonists'initiation processes take place in a deformed family. The settings and families stress the influence of surroundings on protagonists. The stories narrate the plots of pursuit, rebellion, escape, epiphany, and being trapped by reality. These novels show the author's originality in character setting, plot arranging, environment, and narration, which represent the initiation theme.The individual initiation is the subject of Ethan Frome and Summer. In order to become mature spiritually and psychologically, Ethan Frome and Charity Royall pursue true love and ideal life. As a female character, Charity's particular emotions, experience, and suffering from gender identity and class difference enrich and deepen the initiation theme. Furthermore, through the analysis of the two protagonists, we have found their endings and types of initiation are different from the classic Bildungsroman and the American initiation novel, which enriches the study of the initiation story.