Smithy sure has come a long way hasn’t he?
I mean at the beginning of the book he was a 279-pound drunkard and chain smoker, had horrible social skills, and now look at him! He’s lost weight, is no longer drinking or smoking, and now has found Norma, along with many other friends he’s made along his journey. He’s helped many, in varying different ways, which would definitely hold reason for one thinking that this is a hero’s story.
But there seems to be more than enough information for an argument for this to be a coming-of-age novel as well, for the same reasons as stated above.
So which one is it? Coming-of-age or a Hero’s Journey? Or is it both? Does one rule out the other? What do you guys think? At this point, I’m not sure anymore...
I don't think this has to be an either/or. Coming-of-Age novels often feature their protagonists as quasi-heros in their own struggle (for self-definition, acceptance, etc.). The quintessential CoA novel in English, Joyce's _Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_, explicitly features its protagonist as imagining himself as a kind of artistic hero, rising above the circumstances of his birth (the original title for the book was in fact "Stephen Hero").
ReplyDeleteNow, if Smithy's story is considered a kind of bildungsroman (and I agree that it could), it's an unconventional one--much as it's an unconventional hero narrative. He "comes of age" pretty late in the game, in other words. As we talked about (briefly) on Friday, this is maybe connected to his breast obsession, as we see him growing into a more adult, less adolescent or infantile, form of sexuality. The movement out of the parents' house into independent existence also ties into CoA themes. Maybe doing so at such a late age, and with the odds so stacked against him, makes his CoA journey especially heroic.
I think that the story is a Coming-of-Age story. Smithy matured so much in this book, not only by stopping his unhealthy habits but also by learning to love Norma and love himself. He really went through a journey of self-discovery during this book.
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