Bildung In The Plights And Hopes-an Analysis Of The Theme Of The Bildungsroman Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt is a contemporary American writer, whose work Angela's Ashes won the the Pulitzer Prize of nonfiction in 1997. Such a work which aims to describe the author's own childhood life is regarded as “Bildungsroman masterpiece with global influence and humanities style over the years” by the New York Times.This paper selects troubles, hopes and growth ceremony as the theme of the novel to explore Frank McCourt's novel, Angela's Ashes by interpreting the text in detail from the perspective of Bildungsroman. At first, this thesis sums up the characteristics of the Bildungsroman on the basis of summarizing the theory of Bildungsroman, then discusses how the protagonist meets plights, gets helps, carries hopes and finally completes his growth ceremony. The whole growth process of the protagonist also fully embodies that this novel, Angela's Ashes is an excellent Bildungsroman. Carefully reading and analyzing such a classic Bildungsroman can help readers to know about the difference between the Bildungsroman and other novels which are not classified as Bildungsroman, and can also help the readers to analyze and appreciate the novel better.The thesis is composed of six chapters:Chapter One is the introduction, briefly giving an introduction of Frank McCourt's life and his writing career, the research on his representative works Angela's Ashes at home and abroad, and the research purpose and its significance of this thesis.Chapter Two firstly puts forward the theoretical basis of the research, briefly introducing the definitions of Bildungsroman, the academic studies on it both at home and abroad as well as the aesthetic characteristics of Bildungsroman. Finally, it summarizes the characteristics of the Bildungsrom which are shown in the novel, Angela's Ashes.Chapter Three pays attention to the discussion of the protagonist?s Bildung in a series of plights: the miserable Irish Catholic childhood; the poverty and hunger that every moment you should face with; the disease and death in everywhere; and so on, which let the readers know about the hero?s predicament of the life.Chapter Four is based on the dilemma in Chapter Three. It mainly explores and studies the hopes: the songs, the help from others, the hero?s American dream and his guiders. All these together help the hero go through the dark life which is full of war, unemployment, hunger, disease and death. Though all of these are some external factors, it mainly demonstrates the hero's psychological changes and it is because of it that we will not feel sad when we read the plights the protagonist suffers and the protagonist can completely avoid the emergence of the corruption.Chapter Five devotes to illustrating the growth ceremony after the protagonist struggles with a series of difficulties. There are real growth ceremony and the virtual growth ceremony, which are not only the growth of the body, but also the growth of the mind.Chapter Six is the conclusion of this paper. It holds the idea that the novel, Angela's Ashes is a successful American Bildungsroman: Frank McCourt vividly reveals the living predicament of Americans in the 20 th century through a study of a young boy?s growth. He was like a phoenix that was reborn in the ashes, with his positive attitude going through the ups and downs, and eventually relied on his own strength to return to the United States pursing his dreams. The growth of the protagonist can have a very important effect and significant guidance on solving some problems in the growth of the youth in today?s society which is full of the vulgar hedonism.