Brand Of Times In Initiation

In the American literature, there is a particular theme– the initiation experience of an adolescent. American views youth as a formative period that determines an individual's future, therefore, initiation story plays an important role in American literature. Initiation story tells the experiences of the character. Through narrating one or more characters'experiences of growing-up, it depicts the course of his transformation from immaturity to maturity in mind and psychology. Initiation story usually follows the pattern: innocence– temptation– leaving home– puzzlement– innocence lost– epiphany– knowledge of life and self-discovery. This pattern, or the variation based on the pattern appears in every initiation storyThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Billy Bathgate and The Catcher in the Rye are all initiation stories. The pattern of initiation story runs through the three works. Although they live in various eras, the three young protagonists experience a similar initiation journey. Huck, Billy and Holden all experience innocence, puzzlement, epiphany, understanding of life and self-discovery. This thesis selects some important elements that can present their initiations, including Huck's puzzlement and struggle, Billy's innocence lost, Holden's confusion, the guides in their initiation and their rebellions. The other elements are combined in the above discussion.The three boys grow in particular eras with the deep influence of the social background. Huck lives in the slavery society in the 1840s. But his rebellion to help the runaway slave get freedom displays his initiation that he can think and decide independently. Because of the poverty of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Billy has to get his success on the fortune of the criminal gang, and he learns the darkness of the world from it. In the suffocation of the 1950s, Holden tries to rebel against the phoniness in the world, but he fails and has to adjust himself to the society. In the end, Huck flees civilization in disgust to head out for the territories, Billy disappears into the American mainstream in disguise, and Holden has to take the treatment in the psychological clinic because he has no place to go. Their initiation experiences also reflect the peculiarity of various eras.In each age there are different themes puzzling adolescents'growth and different spirit of the times provided different thoughts and ways for people facing the growth puzzlement. The constant changes of social environment and age spirit add eternal fresh ideas and vigor to the novels.