Growing Up In The War-Exploration Of The Initiation Themes In All The Light We Cannot See

The novel All the Light We Cannot See is a masterpiece of Anthony Doerr(1973–),an outstanding writer in contemporary America.Since its publication,this novel has been widely recognized and praised by literary critics and readers.It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2015.The novel vividly depicts the difficult growth journey of two young people during World War II and shows the author’s reflection on war and human nature.The beautiful language,complex story structure,and profound thoughts have attracted more and more scholars at home and abroad to study this novel.At present,most scholars at home and abroad analyze this novel from the aspects of war factors,deconstruction,social ecology,and ecocriticism.Few researchers have interpreted it from the perspective of initiation story.Besides,the analysis of the growth of the two protagonists in the novel in the existing research is not comprehensive enough.This thesis will analyze this novel from the perspective of initiation story,mainly focus on the contents and the characters and emphasize the epiphany and spiritual growth of the two protagonists during their growth process.Under the baptism of war,Marie gained spiritual independence and realized her self-worth and Werner regained his morality and individual will.Finally,the combination of the unique writing skills of the author and the initiation theme would be discussed.The study finds that All the Light We Cannot See is a typical initiation story under the special war setting.The two protagonists in the novel grow from innocence to maturity and eventually gain a new understanding of life and self.Besides,the author’s writing skills help readers better understand the novel’s initiation theme.The growth experience of Marie in the context of war also has a certain educational influence on modern teenagers.Only when they realize the importance of personality independence can they gain self-worth and achieve growth.The contradiction between autonomy and socialization reflected in the growth of the hero Werner is also worth pondering.Analyzing All the Light We Cannot See from the perspective of initiation story enriches the research of this novel,and also broadens the research field of initiation story.