An Analysis Of Hotel Vendome From The Perspective Of Bildungsroman

Danielle Steel is a famous American woman writer. She grew up in a Catholic family.She was raised by her father. Therefore, in her books, there are shadows of herself and herfather. These novels consist of many different family issues. When people are growing, theywould meet many difficulties which on one hand, can hinder them, on the other hand, canhelp them become clear about social reality. When they suffer them, they feel hurt and painful.However, escape cannot solve any problems. What they are supposed to do is to try to adaptto those sufferings, find solutions to overcome those difficulties and become mature gradually.Experience, epiphany and others’ help are very significant elements for people to becomemature instead of ages and sexes. This paper studies the growths of the two characters Huguesand Heloise in Hotel Vendome according to the Bildungsroman theory. In this novel, Huguesdivorced with his wife, got rid of the Electra complex and found his true love. Heloise lost hermother, got rid of Electra complex and found her true love. From these two processes, we cansee what they did for their maturity. Both people show us their change of world outlook, thevalue of love and career.There are five chapters in this paper. Chapter one consists of an introduction, literaturereviews at home and abroad, the significance of studying. This part mainly introduces Steel’slifetime, the plots of work and the core of this thesis. Many scholars research books from theperspective of Bildungsroman. However, until today, no one studies Hotel Vendome based onthis theory. This paper analyzes the two characters according to this theory and argues thegrowth of both characters based on Freud’s Electra complex. Chapter Two is theoreticalfoundations throughout the whole thesis. This chapter will elaborate the origins and thedefinitions of Bildungsroman and Electra complex. Chapter Three and Four are the main parts.At the beginning, it describes that after Hugues experienced the failure of the marriage, howhe escaped, felt confused, became epiphany and grew up. In his growth, Miriam, Heloise andNatalie gave him different influences and they can be regarded as positive or negative guides.All these characters help him become mature. Additionally, it shows the growth of Heloise.Loss of the love of her mother made her became more understanding than other girls at thesame age. She relied on her father overly. The appearance of Natalie helped her get rid ofElectra complex indirectly. Loving with Brad also helped her become mature. Chapter Fiveconcentrates on the conclusion of this thesis. Bildungsroman describes the perfectness ofpersonalities of characters of novels in the transfer of space and time. This paper analyzes the perfectness of characters in Hotel Vendome based on the theory of Bildungsroman.