Enjoy Lee James Novel Growth - Cognitive Theme

This is a thematic study of Henry James's initiation stories. Henry James is considered one of the most significant writers of twentieth-century English literature. His exquisite depiction of characters' consciousness and his brilliant narrative strategies cast a profound influence over many modernist writers such as William Faulkner, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. This paper is meant to explicate the philosophical meanings implied in Henry James's initiation stories by interpreting the original texts line by line. The introduction presents a general description of critical comments and researches about Henry James and explains the fundamental relations between his works, the theme of initiation and the bildungsroman of himself, both in the biological family and in literature. Chapter one discusses the obstacles that prevent characters from getting the right understanding of the world by interpreting texts of Daisy Miller, Ambassadors and The Portrait Of A Lady. Chapter Two then expounds the strategies adopted by characters to struggle out of the dilemma in their initiations, such as to keep a marginalized position, to turn the weak self into a stronger one by withholding the desire and to win a perception from an epiphany with the experience. The sample texts are What Maisie Knew, The Washington Square and The American. Chapter three further elaborates the cherished qualities of characters which symbolize their advancing cognitive maturity after the initiation, that is, learning forgiveness and mercy, having good faith, accepting the burden of life and making peace with others. Besides the stories mentioned above, here Golden Bowl joins in the list. Thus, it's natural to conclude that in writing about initiation stories and talking about how the heroes and heroines deal with their confusion and conflicts in their youth and how at last they get settled with the confronting powers in their baffling world, Henry James shares with readers his own understanding and perceptions about humans, as well as his faith and philosophy about life.