Your Bildungsroman

1. Your Bildungsroman

2. Definition The story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as both "an apprenticeship to life" and a "search for meaningful existence within society." To spur the hero or heroine on to his/her journey, some form of loss or discontent must jar him/her at an early stage away from the home or family setting. The process of maturity is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order. Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society.

3. More Discussion • Bildungsroman is the name affixed to those novels that concentrate on the development or education of a central character. • German in origin, "bildungs" means formation, and "roman" means novel. Although The History of Agathon, written by Christoph Martin Wieland in 1766-1767, may be the first known example, it was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, written in 1795, that took the form from philosophical to personal development and gave celebrity to the genre. • More than any other type of novel, the Bildungsroman intends to lead the reader to greater personal enrichment as the protagonist journeys from youth to psychological or emotional maturity.

4. Themes • Coming of Age and Apprenticeship • Goethe's Bildungsroman appropriately uses the word "apprenticeship" in its title because one distinguishing factor of the genre is the learning process that brings the protagonist from childhood into adulthood. • As a coming-of-age novel, the Bildungsroman focuses on the main character's apprenticeship. These experiences place the character near older practitioners whose roles as models the character either emulates or rejects. • Education • The Bildungsroman is a novel of formation or development. These terms imply that the Bildungsroman is also a novel about education. Life is an education, and the process of growing up as chronicled in the Bildungsroman is a series of experiences that teach lessons.

5. More Discussion Traditionally, this growth occurs according to a pattern: the sensitive, intelligent protagonist leaves home, undergoes stages of conflict and growth, is tested by crises and love affairs, then finally finds the best place to use his/her unique talents. Sometimes the protagonist returns home to show how well things turned out. Some bildungsroman end with the death of the hero, leaving the promise of his life unfulfilled. Traditionally, English novelists complicate the protagonist's battle to establish an individual identity with conflicts from outside the self. German novelists typically concentrate on the internal struggle of the hero. The protagonist's adventures can be seen as a quest for the meaning of life or as a vehicle for the author's social and moral opinions as demonstrated through the protagonist.

6. Style • Audience • The Bildungsroman doesn't just tell a story. It involves the reader in the same process of education and development as the main character. The aim is to affect the reader's personal growth as well. However, at some point in the narrative, the reader may be in disagreement with the protagonist. Realizing that the hero has made a mistake in judgment, the reader, in effect, learns from the situation before the protagonist or otherwise compares his/her own morality against the moral of the story that the hero eventually learns. • Character • In the Bildungsroman, the focus is on one main character. The structure of the Bildungsroman is to follow this one character from youth to adulthood. Other characters exist in the story, but only in roles that have some kind of connection with the protagonist.

7. Review • Bildungsroman • Novel of personal development • Concentrates on the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the protagonist usually from childhood to maturity • Contain experiences which define who one is and is to become • Set in the past from when they were centered around young people on the verge of some maturation process • Surround an event that awakens one from innocence and removes the veil or sheltered and naïve way of seeing the world from one’s sight • Protagonist is faced with some sort of decision, the outcome of which will have a significant impact on the rest of his/her life.

8. Decisions/Choices • These decisions are put forward in such a way as to make one alternative more difficult, but as a sign of growing up, while the other is the easy way out that enables the decider to remain within his/her youthful comfort zone. • The decisions which the character makes will impact the rest of his/her life. • On a grander scale, these decisions may provide much valuable information about the broader societal problems and decisions which his/her culture and society have faced and how later generations have viewed these decisions and the outcomes. • Reflects nostalgia for the simpler past of childhood • Faced with important choices as to whether they should conform to what society/authority figures expects or whether they ought not follow their own path.

9. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” • You are a prisoner in a cave into which no sunlight ever penetrates. You cannot remember a time when you were not a prisoner, shackled and immobile. In fact you don't even know you are a prisoner. • As far as you are concerned, your situation is completely normal. • You know there are other prisoners. You've never seen them, because of the dark - but you talk to them. • Shapes appear and disappear in front of you. You give them names, like "tree", "girl", "house" and you discuss them excitedly with your fellow prisoners. • You are satisfied with your life, because the cave is your life. You cannot imagine anything different

10. Ignorance • Unknown to the prisoners, this elevated causeway crosses through the cave. No one knows where it leads to. • Unseen by the prisoners, life-sized two-dimensional cut -outs of various objects, like "trees", "girls" and "houses", are constantly being carried across this causeway. • Because of the fire, shadows of them are projected on to the far wall of the cave. • These shadows are what the wretched prisoners take to be real objects. They give names to them, and talk about them, because they know no better. In fact their "reality" is nothing but the shadow of a two-dimensional copy. • Although the prisoners don't know it is there, the fire is the source of all their "knowledge" about their world of the cave. • Without its light projecting images of the objects carried along the causeway, their lives would be lived in total darkness. There would be nothing to look at and nothing to talk about.

11. Socrates = Individual against Society’s beliefs • Suppose one of the prisoners (we could call him "Socrates") escaped, and made his way up the rough track and into the daylight. • On the way up, he'd seen the fire, and the causeway, and the two-dimensional figures. In the real world above, to begin with, he was blinded by the sunlight. • As he got used to it, he was amazed by the shapes, the colors, the textures - now he knew what a tree was, or a girl, or a house. He couldn't wait to get back down into the cave to tell the others. • He tried to describe the brilliance of the light and beauty of the things he'd seen. The prisoners soon got tired of his nonsense and killed him. • They preferred the pictures on the wall. • They preferred the world they knew and understood. • They preferred to stay in their cave. • They preferred to remain in darkness. • They preferred to remain ignorant • They preferred to remain in their self-imposed “box” • They preferred to remain a “lemming”

12. Your Task • You will create both a visual representation and a reflective essay (in four parts) of your own bildungsroman. • Step One • Write a stream-of-thought chain of memories brainstorming as many influences complexities and mistakes as you can remember. 35? • You will then choose 10 specific memories that you will include in your project.

13. Step Two & Three • Identify four distinct memories you would like to discuss in each of your essays. (You will have one essay per memory.) • Create a visual project putting your four main writings together with a timeline of the individual memories in between. This all needs to be done in a metaphorical framework, representing the intake of information that leads to transformation of some kind. • Rationale as to why you chose your particular representation. • Reflect on the significance of each of these memories. Lessons learned; maturity gained; etc. • Warning: This project will be part of a gallery walk, which means it is not anonymous and will be shared with classmates. Therefore, only contribute elements you are comfortable sharing with others.

14. Things to Get You Started Think over the personal influences of your life that make the person you are today. Be specific. What complexities have you faced, afterwards coming out of the dark passage with newfound knowledge and skills? *Plato’s Cave* What mistakes have you made that led to some type of learning process? What is the innocence you have shed, entering the vibrant but challenging world?

15. Stream-of-thought- Memories My Memories Student-based Memories War Moving away from home Drugs Step parents/siblings Watching others make bad choices Meeting new people First paycheck New baby Death of a parent/friend/sibling Dealing with a disease Driver’s license New job Divorce Graduation Changing schools Injury Dating Peer pressure Traveling Finding your talents Getting a new pet • Living with my grandparents • Becoming Catholic • First Communion – Rosary • Father’s alcoholism • Camping with cousins • Trip down South • Driver’s license • First date • High school graduation • College (1st time) • First job • Marriage • First child • Children • Vietnam • Grandchildren • New job • College (2nd time) • Teaching • Death of parents

16. Essay Format • You will give me a hard copy of each of your four essays that are included within the project. Each must be in MLA format. (you know the drill). Each essay should be at least 200 words. • First rough draft (TYPED) for each memory due to me Monday/Tuesday, October 15th/16th . Final drafts will be due to me on October 29th/30th . Walk-about will be on Thursday/Friday, November 15th/16th . • Value of entire project: 200 points