Samsara: A Comparative Study Of The Catcher In The Rye And The Bell Jar From Bildungsroman Perspective

The initiation novel comes from the German word “Bildungsroman”. As a literature genre, it derives from the Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. This book can be considered as the opening work in Bildungsroman. The initiation novel usually describes the protagonists who undergo some spiritual crisis and change their worldviews or characters from innocent childhood to adult world. German Bildungsroman pays more attention to the moral and rational cultivation to people and British Bildungsroman shows their enthusiasm for the initiation of female teenagers. Furthermore, American Bildungsroman focuses on the enlightenment and growth of the protagonists by the description of the protagonists’ epiphany on the journey. Through the description of the process of protagonists’ initiation, it has an imperceptible impact on youths nowadays. Also, it reflects that the writers pay close attention to the growth problems for teenagers. Bildungsroman is an very important genre in the history of American literature. It is nearly all the previous writers who show their enthusiasm for teenagers’ growth problems. It has some inseparable relationship with American own culture and history. What’s more, the reason why Bildungsroman has the enduring appeal to American literature is that all the teenagers have their own bothersome problems in every period. Bildungsroman provides the rich experience for the youths, and different social backgrounds can bring the new vitality to the development of American Bildungsroman. Therefore, Bildungsroman vividly reflects American culture and history.It is well-known that The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar are the most representative Bildungsroman in American literature. The Catcher in the Rye depicted the innocent boy Holden’s experience in New York after he ran away from home. It represented the Holden’s growing pains and confusion, also it disclosed American youths’ mental breakdown after war. The Bell Jar described the lonely, despair and struggling experience of a female teenager Esther who tried to pursue her own ideal under the patriarchal society. It showed the initiation process of the new woman after war. The process of hero and heroine’s initiation shares some similar aspects and also reflects some totally different sides owing to the gender. Through the comparative study of two novels, we can acquire some experience and lessons about adolescents’ initiation from the exploration of youths’ growth problems. On one hand, the two protagonists’ initiation process follows the traditional growth pattern, on the other hand, it shows some different initiation processes during their growth. Through the comparative analysis of two protagonists, we can explore the difference between the traditional growth pattern and the two protagonists’ growth experience. It is an innovation that the thesis will supplement and enrich the research of protagonist’s growth pattern in traditional Bildungsroman.The thesis is divided into four chapters, the first part is the brief introduction to the writers, novels and Bildungsroman. And the previous and current studies on novels and Bildungsroman is also mentioned. The next chapter explores the growth-death-rebirth of the two protagonists’ initiation. Chapter three presents the similarities and differences of hero and heroine’s initiation. In addition, the contrast between the two protagonists and the classical initiation pattern. Furthermore, it summarizes the literary significance. The last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis’ s major findings, implications, limitations and suggestions.