Bildungsroman
BARRY 2011
BILDUNGSROMAN
• Origin: German
• Bildungs: education
• Roman: novel
BILDUNGSROMAN
• bildungsroman: a novel that deals with
the moral and psychological
development of a young person
• The protagonist learns about the world,
and his or her place in the world
• Also termed a “coming of age” novel
BILDUNGSROMAN
• Create a timeline for your life.
• Think back as far as you can in your life
to recall key moments that brought
you to another place of
experience/growth.
• Write these moments on your timeline,
indicating the year in which each
moment occurred and your age at
the time.
BILDUNGSROMAN
• rite of passage: a ritual associated with
a change of status for an individual,
especially emerging into adulthood
• What are some modern rites of
passage present in our culture and
other cultures?
BILDUNGSROMAN
• Can you think of other examples of
bildungsroman, or coming of age,
novels?
BILDUNGSROMAN
• In this bildungsroman, has Gene
experienced anything that could be
called a rite of passage?
BILDUNGSROMAN
• How have we seen Gene develop
so far, in terms of
• Education?
• World Knowledge?
• Moral development?
BILDUNGSROMAN
• What lessons do you predict Gene
might learn as the novel
continues?