The Bildungsroman

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The Bildungsroman
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Bildungsroman

• A bildungsroman is a novel that traces the
  psychological and moral development and
  maturation of the main character or characters.
• Sometimes also referred to as a coming of age
  story.
• Usually, this presentation pertains to the
  protagonist. It can also, however, show the
  inverse development of the antagonist.

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Plot of Bildungsroman
1) Emotional loss for youth
4) Youth learns, matures
2) Youth leaves home on journey
5) Young adult accepts values of society. Society
accepts him.
3) Encounters many conflicts
6) Adult returns home with new knowledge to
benefit society.
External - man vs. society
Internal - man vs. himself
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Construction of the Bildungsroman

• The writer creates situations that allow the
  reader to see the young protagonist grow and
  experience struggles in this journey to adulthood
  through formal education, personal experience and
  various kinds of relationship.
• The writer often shows the protagonist struggling
  with the transition between the innocence of
  childhood and the responsibility that comes with
  adulthood.
• Think how might these struggles relate to the
  title of the novel?

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Examples of the Bildungsroman

• Charles Dickens's Great Expectations
• Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre
• James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young
  Man
• J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
• S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders
• Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird