Analysis Of Tim Winton And Bernhard Schlink's The Reader And Breath

In both novels the experience of growing up is explored through the use of narratives that span across lifetimes. In ‘Wuthering Heights’ Emily Bronte introduces the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine as children in an 18th century English household. In ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, Khaled Hosseini also introduces both Mariam and Laila from young ages. The purpose of this style of writing allows he reader to provide justification for the events that happen to each character, and support the understanding that the childhoods of each characters determine them as they mature. The experience of growing up is also heavily influenced by contextual factors, and without them the characters would have had very different ordeals.

She does not understand why the older and well-known authors are not being read in high school. Prose uses a personal experience from her son’s sophomore English class. He had to read a “weeper and former bestseller by Judith Guest” (424), about a dysfunctional family dealing with a teenage son’s suicide attempt. “No instructor has ever asked my sons to read Alice Munro, who writes so lucidly and beautifully about the hypersensitivity that makes adolescence a hell,”(424). She again mentions books she approves of that should be read in English classes.

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

Coming of age is a recurring theme that is universally known throughout many different pieces of literature. Whether it’s influenced on true experiences, childhood memories, or even based on one’s current juvenile reality, many of theses works have a correlation between them that include many similar ordeals and struggles that the character goes through in order to metamorphosize into taking their first step out of childhood. One prominent theme that often appears is how one experiences and faces a time of tribulation and other walls that stand in one’s path. In effect, hardships mature and enlighten one, causing the loss of something such as childhood innocence. Lastly, these three combined points finally lead to one’s metamorphosis out of childhood. All in all, these three factors take one out of childhood, and slowly allows one step out into the reality of this world.

In coming of age stories, the protagonists often experience a pensive and dramatic moment where either they break through to adulthood or retreat to childhood - it is this moment that unveils the magnitude of growing up for the reader.

In western Australian author Tim Winton’s book, The Turning, the large collection of short stories are aimed towards teenagers and other people who have been teenagers. This is so, because each story uses a similar theme to do with finishing high school, how people decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives and the character’s journeys along the way.

The journey between adolescence and adulthood is one of great discovery and introspection. As the blissful innocence of childhood is washed away by the passing of time, a long and confusing period of discovering one’s identity takes center stage. Prior to the process, the adult world seems one of great freedom and opportunity and is treated with a sense of keen enthusiasm. But, only as we become members of this cruel and unjust adult society, does the veneer of privilege corrode away, and the simplicity and innocence of childhood truly appreciated. As such is explored in The Catcher in the Rye, where a young teenager in New York City is faced with the daunting task of transitioning and maturing to an eventual adulthood, one that terrifies him. Holden responds to adulthood with resistance, fear andidealism, before slowly but surely succumbing to its certainty.

Often times, as a teenager, one can be faced with many responsibilities and having someone to talk to could help ease the burden. Yet when one is not comfortable or feels like an outcast around kids their age adults are the only option. Adults , although they were once teenagers, find it hard to communicate to younger kids shown in the relationships with adults of Holden and Melinda lives. In the coming of age novels The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, highlights the relatable communication barriers between adults and teenagers by using character foils to express the differences between adults and teenagers in both novels. Both Holden and Melinda do not find comfort with people their own age and somewhat

The audience of this piece was young adults who could relate to the sense of success of his bestseller list with their own achievements, but also the feeling of death when they become

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

As an adult reader who has crossed over to the reality of life, reading about these characters can be a transparent, futile exercise because as adults looking back at youth we have the experience to know where these characters are headed before they even start their journey. However, for young adults who are still in the throes of existential angst this is a powerful novel that handles teenage rites of passage and coming-of-age issues such as loyalty, friendship, belonging, and even death and loss very well.

The archetypal fictional works of protagonists running away and coming of age appear in literature throughout all of history. One of these stories is The Adventures of Huckleberry written in the 1880s and set in the 1840s. Another one of these stories is The Catcher in the Rye written and set in the 1950s. Both of these stories, like all running away and coming of age stories, share recurrent themes and analogous plots. Despite being written about a century apart, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, and The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, share the common characteristics of having protagonists that run away to find themselves while ignoring societal norms showing these characteristics are customary of coming of age stories.

Within Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader, the characters Michael Berg and Hanna Schmidt possess individual and collective pasts which are impossible to escape and ultimately influence the paths of their lives throughout the novel. Schlink conveys this idea through the combined use of structure, setting, characterization, narrative perspective, and references to memory, dreams and symbolism.

Literacy plays a crucial role in the development of a character concerning their success or demise which is prominently seen in Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader. Published in 2008, The Reader takes place in post-war Germany, in which the main character, Michael Berg is re united with his former lover, who had left almost 10 years prior, in a court room setting where she is held accountable for the death of numerous Jews during World War 2. Through the relationship between Michael and his former lover, Hanna, Schlink makes connections and communicates the tensions between the Germans and Jews during the war. This is embodied through Hanna’s illiteracy which places great limitations on her life, though she is still able to live a normal one. The negative effects of being illiterate is seen through her inclination to gain power, which is directly related to the invasion of Nazis in Germany during the war. Moreover, her inability to read or write causes Hanna to be easily manipulated, just as Hitler had influenced the actions of numerous Nazi officials, which is greatly notable during her trial when the people convicted with her placed all the blame on her. Though Hanna’s illiteracy greatly affects our understanding of The Reader, it is important to note the greater effect that Michael’s literacy had on the story, in which he had helped Hanna to gain the ability to read and write. Additionally, Schlink correlates the theme of illiteracy with that of morality, which is utilized to

Within both The Secret Garden and Catcher in the Rye, Mary Lennox and Holden Caulfield come of age as they undergo a journey of self-discovery as seen through their induction into the adult world and maturation through their respective therapeutic landscapes. Although there have been extensive dissertations on coming of age within the respective novels, there appear to be none that look at the works in conjunction. The relationship between the works is interesting one to note as they can be classified as coming of age novels but deviate from the tropes of the genre in similar yet distinctive manners. Furthermore, the extent to which they come of age is often undermined in subtextual analyses while disregarding the original intended audience of the works. Ultimately, their relationship to their sanctuaries reinforce their journey from innocence to experience. The extent to which the respective works can be classified under the coming of age genre can be undermined through their relationship to these landscapes; whereas Holden comes of age through the relinquishment of his sanctuary and entrance into his therapeutic landscape, Mary becomes a subsidiary character to her sanctuary, which also serves as her therapeutic landscape .