Coyle, William

A central theme in the novels of Robert Cormier is the
confrontation between the individual and society. Because
the protagonists are teenagers, this encounter represents
a form of initiation or rite of passage into the adult
world. Numerous symbolic images relate the initiation
experiences of Cormier's characters to the initiation
rituals and practices of primitive tribes. Because the
images reveal perversions of modern initiation ordeals
and corruption of the mentors who guide them, aberrant
values are transmitted. The abundance of symbolic imagery
elevates Cormier's work to a significant voice in
contemporary mythology. Instead of mystical monsters,
Cormier's novices must face the institutional evils found
in religion, education, government, the military,
international terrorism, and experimental medicine. Most of
the youthful heroes fail to complete the passage
satisfactorily; some are annihilated by it. Cormier warns
that the implacable establishment can corrupt and destroy
both individuals and itself.

There is much disagreement and uncertainty among critics over the message in James Weldon Johnson's novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. It has been misconstrued as a "passing novel" or as another novel with the "tragic mulatto" theme. In James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man the double consciousness of the protagonist reveals the central concerns Johnson had about racial identity and individual psychology. The protagonist's choices are between isolation and integration, the central issue in Johnson's later published pamphlet Negro Americans What Now? He believed that successful integration could occur through the arts and education. By the protagonist's revealing that he is capable of experiencing negative capability in Europe, Johnson describes the atmosphere to be striven for in America through social change.

Three of Richard Brautigan's novels extensively employ the
American pastoral motif in a predominantly romance form.
All contrast the urban American present with a simpler,
idealized pastoral setting. Working within each book is the
"return to nature" mystique or impulse, treated comically or
ironically. In A Confederate General from Big Sur, the
"return to nature" impulse is comically linked to an extended
metaphor of the Civil War. The combination denigrates the
pastoral time away, creating a comic burlesque. In watermelon
Sugar "returns to nature" in a fantasy, postindustrial
Eden. Far from depicting the successful attainment
of the yearned-for simplicity in a second Eden,
Brautigan critically and ironically renders the perfect
pastoral paradise. In Trout Fishing in America, the
narrator searches for the pastoral ideal in urban America.
A viable pastoral retreat is attained through the power of
the imagination that reconciles contemporary industrialized
America to its pastoral past.

The existence of a vast frontier prior to the twentieth
century afforded great opportunities and produced an optimism among the American people. When the lands filled up,
the frontier vanished and with it that optimism. In order
to recapture the feeling of hope associated with the existence
of a frontier, a whole mythology was built around the
Old. West and its chief representative, the cowboy. Modern
Texans, the subjects of Larry McMurtry's novels, are well
acquainted with legends of the Old West. But the myth bears
little resemblance to their own lives in a hectic, rapidly
changing modern Texas. It is necessary for the McMurtry
character to appreciate his heritage but sever himself from
it in order to cope with the twentieth century. In a
closed society limitations must be accepted and one must
find contentment in his own era rather than trying to escape
to another.

Nathaniel Hawthorne ~rew extensively on the poetry of John Milton for
his fiction. Hawthorne praised Milton in his works and often referred
to his poems. Many of Hawthorne's garden scenes have their symbolic
roots in the Miltonic Eden, and his Blithedale Romance displays a great
familiarity with Milton's! Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle (Comus). Hawthorne's
late romance, The Marble Faun, employs the Miltonic theme of
man's fall from grace and often parallels the structure of Paradise Lost.

This thesis explores the initiation theme as it relates to
F. Scott Fitzgerald's work. The Basil Duke Lee series which involves
the learning experiences between the ages of eleven and seventeen
serves as a point of comparison with other fiction by Fitzgerald.
Basil Lee's response to initiation is compared and contrasted with
masculine protagonists like Anson Hunter, Anthony Patch, Jay Gatsby,
Nick Carraway and Dick Diver and with feminine characters like
Josephine Perry. A study is made to rate the success of each
initiation and to determine the elements which are required for a
satisfactory initiation.

Henry Miller has been underrated, misunderstood, and attacked
by critics since the publication of his first novel, Tropic
of Cancer, in 1934. One possible reason for this hostility
is his use of concepts from Hinduism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism
which are unfamiliar to many of his critics. Miller's use of
Eastern ideas has been partial and perhaps intuitive rather
than intentional, but recognition of this aspect of Miller's
thought enhances a reader's appreciation and understanding
of his novels and suggests that Miller has prepared the way
for younger writers like Norman Mailer, William S. Burroughs,
and J. P. Donleavy.

Androgyny in literature is not a new topic. In William Faulkner's The Wild Palms, however, the significance of androgyny as theme has been largely overlooked. Androgyny is defined as the harmonious balance derived from accepting those individual aspects defined culturally and socially as masculine and feminine beyond the physical and biological. In this novel, Harry Wilbourne, a doctor and scientist, denies his androgyny while Charlotte Rittenmeyer, his lover and a sculptor, finds comfort and harmony in both her masculine and feminine traits. Harry faces a gender identity crisis when Charlotte, pregnant, decides to abort their child. Only after Charlotte dies of a botched abortion does Harry accept his memories--his responsibility for his past life with Charlotte (a masculine characteristic)--as well as his grief--over Charlotte's death and the loss of the grand passion he shared with her (feminine emotions). Harry, reborn, becomes a man: harmonious in his androgyny.

Toni Morrison's purpose in her novels is to encourage her readers to imitate her heroes' journey in their own lives. Through her protagonists' successes and failures on their monomythic quests (to use the term of Joseph Campbell), Morrison educates her readers. Campbell states that a successful hero must complete three phases: separation, initiation, and return. In The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove's poor choices cause failure; she stays in the separation phase. Milkman Dead from Song of Solomon reaches the initiation stage but fails to return with his boon. Denver of Beloved is the only successful heroine; she returns to the world with a treasure, providing Morrison's readers with a fully heroic model.