| Bildungsroman is not a separate category in F.S. Fitzgerald's works. This paper discusses his novels concerning the teen-agers with the focus on This Side of Paradise and Basil Duke Lee Stories. These works have portrayed one period of growth of the leading character in general or on the combination of several passages of the novel, which incorporates the familiar theme of Big Man in The Great Gatsby.The concept of the Big Man of F. S. Fitzgerald has a discordant contradiction, i.e. the conflict between preservation of individuality and conformity to the societal norms. It has puzzled the main character during his growth since he is struggling to seek the equilibrium point between the two fulcrums. From this point, the paper expounds on this motif in depth. It is extended from point to the whole area proceeding with This Side of Paradise. It tries to look for the common ground of them and shed light on the significance of "Big Man" through the exploration of the specific growing process, the personality of the characters and the reason for the tragedy. Besides, it is intended to find a new understanding of the novels of F.S. Fitzgerald to some extent. Bildungsroman series show the shaping of "Big Man", reflect the tragedy of personality of the characters in the novels with special historical backgrounds, and brings to light the unique significance that make possible its particular existence.Chapter one begins with "Knocking On the Door to the Paradise" as the preface, which mainly introduces the writing background of This side of the Paradise, the important position of this novel in the entire production of F.S. Fitzgerald and its close connection with other novels. Chapter two "The Throes of the Growth" elaborates on This side of the Paradise in focus, which analyses the growth of the "Big Man" in order to find where the bewilderment lies through textual clarification of various aspects of the hero Amory's campus life, love experiences, war distress and personality development. Chapter three " Who is the Big Man" generalizes the essential features of the Big Man i.e. "egoism", probes into the cause for the hero's tragic fate by means of analyzing in detail each character during his growth in general. Moreover, it examines the individual character, belief and values to reveal different conflicts between individuality and environment in concentration and to account for the distinctive traits of the Big Man. Chapter four "Linking of the Big Man Between the Preceding and the Following Parts", not only has a descriptive summarization of F.S.Fitzgerald's Bildungsroman, but also relates A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Catcher in the Rye as a certain kind of supplement to have a lengthways literary connection regarding the sense of the novel. The conclusion is the reflection based on the sum-up and simple explanation for the motivation of writing this paper. |
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