Bildungsroman

A bildungsroman novel, also called a coming-of-age story, contains plots and obstacles that cause the characters to develop and change throughout the entire novel. There are many different characteristics in order to make up a bildungsroman novel. However, in The Namesake, the character that developed and changed throughout their life into adulthood was Gogol. Gogol’s coming of age was made evident by the bildungsroman’s genre conventions of social isolation and a conflict of generations. In Buckley’s novel Season of Youth, he talks about the characteristics and qualities that make up a bildungsroman novel. Buckley states, “His [the protagonist] family, especially his father, proves doggedly hostile to his creative instincts of flights of fancy, antagonistic to his ambitions, and quite impervious to the new
The protagonist in the quote feels alienated from his own family member because his father does not approve of his creative imagination and wants him to just follow the rules and to not do anything that will make him stand out. He feels disconnected from his father because his father is blocking him from achieving his goals and aspirations in life. This leads to the genre convention, conflicts of generations, because the son and father are not on good terms. He struggles to make his father understand what he is trying to achieve, but his father still disapproves causing the protagonist to move away from home. Buckley also claims that the protagonist of the bildungsroman is a male who is sensitive. A sensitive protagonist allows the character to develop and change throughout the story because he will be sensitive to issues regarding alienation and fights with his family which will lead to a change in how he views his surroundings and himself. These conventions help build a bildungsroman novel and in return gives off a message that the author left for the readers to