A Typical Initiation Story: On The Getting Of Wisdom

Henry Handel Richardson, who occupies an important position in Australia literature, is famous for novels Maurice Guest, The Getting of Wisdom, Young Cosima and her representative trilogy The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. Among these novels, The Getting of Wisdom, which describes the tortuous experience and the gradual initiation of a 12-year-old girl named Laura in a boarding school, has the common features of an initiation story and an important one as such. But, shadowed by the great brilliance of the author's masterwork, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, this novel has gained limited attention from critics, much less discussed from the aspect of initiation story.The thesis falls into five parts. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the author, her works and researches so far done about her and her oeuvre, particularly The Getting of Wisdom.Chapter Two presents some necessary information about the initiation story. Tracing the origination and development of the initiation story, this chapter brings to the fore the general features of this literary genre from the aspects of content and structure. It paves the way for the next parts.Chapter Three and Chapter Four are the main body of the thesis. In light of the initiation story, The Getting of Wisdom is discussed and analyzed. Chapter Three explores the book from of the content, while Chapter Four studies it from the aspect of structure.Chapter Five is the conclusion, in which the statement is made that the book The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson is a typical initiation story. Meanwhile, limitations of the study are pointed out and suggestions for future research are also proposed.