Individuals’ Growth And Development In Ian Mcewan’s Early Novels

Ian McEwan (1948-) is a distinguished contemporary British writer. Although his novels have gone through dramatic changes in style, materials and dominant ideas, the concentration of individuals’development and growth as an important subject remains the same. He always bases his demonstrations and discussions of this subject on the reflections of gender differences and gender relationships, which means how individuals recognizes his/her gender and the gender of the opposite as well as how individuals relates themselves with the opposite gender not only has great influence on individuals’growth and development, but also illustrates different spheres of growth and development. This thesis takes Ian McEwan’s early novels as the object of the study. These early novels are divided into three spheres, each of them represented by First Love, Last Rites, Child in Time, Black Dogs and Atonement respectively. The thesis is taking gender difference and gender relationship as a perspective to analyze and discuss individuals’growth and development in his early novels as well as the development of Ian MeEwan himself as a writer. This thesis tries to discuss how individuals get through the primary gender confrontation and the tragedies following the confrontation, by recognizing and forgiving the other gender, and finally go past the gender difference to conclude the reconciliation of two genders. Moreover, This thesis also talks about how this individual gradually walks out of egotism to accept others and take on responsibilities to finish individuals’moral development.This thesis is divided into five parts.The introduction part firstly gives a brief account of Ian McEwan’s composition. Then it introduces the researches having being done by scholars home and abroad, by pointing out the concentration, methods adopted and trends of the researches. The existing problems and gaps ignored by the researches are also illustrated. On this basis, the introduction part introduces the object of the study, important points, method adopted and significance of this thesis.Chapter One takes First Love, Last Rites as the object of the study, analyzing the gender confrontation, maximized gender difference and how male individuals misunderstand the females and the society in order to illustrate the problems existing in the early era of individuals’ growth and development. On one side, females with controlling issues harm the growing males in different ways, while on the other side, the growing and developing male individuals are experiencing self-recognition anxiety, by taking females as sacrifices.Chapter Two takes Child in Time and Black Dogs as the object of the study, analyzing how Ian McEwan views different gender mental models and how he tries to coordinate them as well as how individuals develop from family to the society and the history. The first part of Chapter Two analyzes how Stephen’s (hero in Child in Time) mother and wife as females using their unique female thinking pattern and emotion trait to help the hero develop his heart and mind as well as helps him get back to the society. The second part of this chapter analyzes the equivalent two gender mental models in the form of family problem in Black Dogs in order to demonstrate the process of the way the two genders starting from confrontation to equivalence. Along this process, individuals begins to confront the history and take on the responsibility after recognizing and reflecting the two mental models.Chapter Three takes Atonement as the object of the study, discussing individuals’ moral awareness and their moral practice after their reconfirmation of harmonious gender relationships and crossing over gender barriers. The first part of this chapter analyzes Ian McEwan’s construction of female speaking subject and concentration of female growth and development to prove that he transcend his own gender and identity limitations. The second part discusses the construction of individuals of transcending genders and how the individuals reconfirm the possibility of harmonious gender relationships and transcend egoism to discover the other’s subjectivity. The last part analyzes the heroin’s moral practice and discusses how the merged two mental models help her to assume the responsibility given by the society, the history and the others.The Conclusion compares Ian McEwan’s early novels with Bildungsroman and places those novels on the background of contemporary British history to analyze McEwan’s discussions on the subject of individuals’ growth and development as a response to the contemporary western spiritual crisis and his serious moral concerns.