The Way One Sees Things Growing Up

The Way One Sees Things Growing Up

In a bildungsroman, A story tracks a protagonist’s path to finding their place in the world, or becoming more mature. This is simply seen through the situations the protagonist describes as they grow. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, use imagery and plot structure to express a moral development in the protagonists.

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the events of the book are chronological. Early on, a young Stephen Dedalus follows his parents guidance. Steven supports this with saying, “His father had told him, whatever he did, never to peach on a fellow. He shook his head and answered no and felt glad ( Joyce 12)”. Joyce's chronological

Jane is trying to find her place in the world, as Jane expresses; she would like to leave Gateshead to see more, “I should indeed like to go to school,’ was the audible conclusion of my musings. “Well, well! who knows what may happen?” said Mr. Lloyd, as he got up. “The child ought to have change of air and scene,” he added, speaking to himself; “nerves not in a good state” (24 Brontë). Throughout the book, Jane has an internal battle of loving Mr. Rochester or escaping from his grasp. Brontë utilizes the chronological plot structure to show the reader Jane's saga to finding her spot. When she ends up with Rochester she is ultimately happy. Jane's story shows that a person isn't likely to sit still if they are in a position that they do not like. Jane hardly idle if she is unhappy and while she grows up she instilled in her brain that unhappiness isn't something to accept (which a lot of young adults feel). This idea of Jane’s is seen through her determination, as she states, “Next day new steps were to be taken; my plans could no longer be confined to my own breast; I must impart them in order to achieve their success. Having sought and obtained an audience of the superintendent during the noontide recreation, I told her I had a prospect of getting a new situation where the salary would be double what I now received (for at Lowood I only got 15 pounds per annum); and requested she would break the matter for me to Mr. Brocklehurst, or some of the committee, and ascertain whether they would permit me to mention them as references”