A Study Of Washington Square From The Perspective Of Initiation Novel

Henry James (1843-1916) is a distinguished novelist, dramatist and literary critic in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He gets a high prestige in both American literature and English literature. He is regarded as one of the three greatest realist masters in the late 19th century in American literature. Henry James creates the narrative"point of view"technique, which prepares the way for the"stream of consciousness", a usual practice in modern fiction. He is also the first one who devotes to the"international theme"—the encounter of the New World with the Old World in culture. Because of James'great achievements, he is a great writer in the world literature.The medium-length novel, Washington Square, published in 1881, which is one of Henry James'early works. This thesis studies the novel from the initiation perspective, and mainly analyzes the heroine Catherine's growth from innocence to maturity by using the literary genre"initiation story"and the feminist criticism. This thesis is divided into three parts, the introduction, the main body and the conclusion. The main part is made up of three chapters. At first, the introduction part gives a brief introduction of the writer Henry James, the novel Washington Square, the literature review of the work and the theory of initiation story theory and the feminist criticism.The first chapter analyzes Catherine's innocent character. She knew nothing about the adults'world and the outside world. She lost her discourse power under the patriarchy system, which showed her innocence. Then chapter two mainly studies the growth of Catherine. She gradually grew up from a little, innocent, kind and silent girl to a mature, strong minded and conscious new woman. The third chapter mainly discusses Catherine's maturity. The communication with outside world, the activities of her psychology and the maturity for her emotions, all reflected the heroine's independence, strong mind and maturity. In addition, she owned a certain discourse power at this stage.Finally, the conclusion gives a summary of the above contents. This thesis points out the novel shows the process of Catherine's growth from innocence to maturity under the patriarchal system. The heroine regained her independent and free life after her self-awareness, self-struggle and self-reflection.