Bildungsroman In To Kill A Mockingbird

The ‘Bildungsroman’ genre denotes a novel which focuses on the social maturity of an individual in their defined social order. This genre essentially analyses the protagonist’s journey to self-discovery through the psychological and moral growth from youth to adulthood. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1950’s), and the film, ‘Good Will Hunting’ (1997), directed by Gus Van Sant, extensively explores this notion.

Harper Lee’s novel ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ is a young girl, Scout’s self-discovery, in a racially prejudiced society. Set in the 1950’s, it reflects the Alabaman society’s paradigms and conventions, and the stereotypes associated with gender and race. It focuses on an individual transcending above the injustice and atrocities

This is reflected in the novel through the shift in Scout’s perspective from that of a child to an adult. The trial of Tom Robison initially spurs her on the journey to self-discovery, which is then further aided by her upbringing. Atticus, her father, constantly enforces his own moral ideas, impressed with motifs and symbolism. He states that “You will never understand a person until you climb into their skin”, but simplifies this into something that Scout is able to quickly grasp “Climb into the skin and walk around in it”. However, Aunt Alexander conforms to society’s prejudice and paradigms. She forces Scout to wear female apparel, thereby reflecting the stereotypes associated with gender in the Alabaman society. Though society’s conventions and paradigms do intervene in her social maturity, her upbringing aids her in reaching social maturity at an earlier stage in the novel. This is reinforced through traces of moral values within her as she questions the racially prejudiced society’s morality, by posing questions about the injustice and atrocities within her

It focuses on an individual’s growth and development within their context of a defined social order. The focal contestations present in ‘Good Will Hunting’ are the clashes between Will’s needs and desires. This is reflected through the clash between his need, his ‘gangster’ world, and his desires, the ‘academic world’. The transition of the style of music, from rock to classical, represents the constant clash between both his worlds, thus, his needs and