In English, Bildungsroman can be translated into either educative novel or initiative story but it is hard

to give a specific and accurate definition of Bildungsroman。 Despite this, many scholars try to make general definitions and features of Bildungsroman。 In 1870, Wilhelm Dithey insisted that Bildungsroman depicted how a young man overcame difficulties and obtained maturity by accumulating life experiences like love and friendship。

And according to George Lucacs, Bildungsroman is a kind of novel between idealism and romanticism。 He points out that, “Humanism, the fundamental attitude of this type of work, demands a balance between action and contemplation, between wanting to mould the world and being purely receptive towards it。 This form has been called ‘the novel of education’ ”。 (Lucacs, 1971: 134) So Lucacs thinks that the protagonist of Bildungsroman tries to reach balance between changing the world and making reconciliation。

In general, it is hard to give out a specific definition of Bildungsroman, as the range of the classification is too broad。 However, it has a general definition and pattern。 And in this thesis, the author analyzes the growing process of Jane Eyre by adopting the opinion of George Lucacs and the general pattern of Bildungsroman。

1。2 Literature Review

1。 2。 1 Literature Review Abroad

Jane Eyre was published on October 16th 1847 in Britain。 Soon after its publication, it became the focus of the comment and study。 Many researches are made on the characters and plots of Jane Eyre。

Many researches are on the heroine Jane Eyre who is a passionate and independent woman。 But the image of this female is controversial in the Victorian period in which the ideal femininity is like being a model mother, wife and daughter。 So at that time, some words and actions of Jane Eyre is full of rebellious spirit。 So the comments and studies of Jane Eyre also include criticism。 It was criticized for anti-Christian words and immorality by the contemporaries of Charlottes Bronte。文献综述

Besides, some scholars (Showalter 2012, Gilbert and Gubar1979, Buchman 2008) attempt to analyze the protagonist, Jane Eyre, from the psychoanalytic perspective。 According to Freud psychological theory, some scholars analyze the psychology of Jane Eyre to interpret the females’ psychology。 In their essay called “The Mad Woman in the Attic”, Famous American critics, Gilbert and Gubar(1979) attempt to demonstrate that the irrational action of Bersha reflects the depression of Jane Eyre。 And another American feminism critic, Showalter(2012) also mentioned this view, “Bronte’s most profound innovation, however, is the pision of the Victorian female psyche into extreme components of mind and body, which she externalizes two characters, Helen Burns and Bersha Mason…Bronte gives us not one but three faces of Jane。。。”, so Showalter (2012) analyzes Jane Eyre by psychoanalytic approach。

1。 2。 2 Literature Review at Home

In China, people have known the Bronte sisters for the first time since 1917 when the magazine  Woman

was published。 And Jane Eyre is welcomed by Chinese, especially for the plain but impressive heroine。 There

are many researches on discussing themes of Jane Eyre。 People (Wang 2010, Liu 2005, Zhang 2014) mainly make researches on themes like feminism, morality, psychology and growth。

And some of them attempts to analyze Jane Eyre from the perspective of feminism。 There are some theses on analyzing the awakening and limitation of feminism in the Victorian period。 For example, in “Feminism Interpretation in Jane Eyre”, the writer Wang (2010) tries to demonstrate the awareness of feminism in the middle of 19th century through analyzing the positive and negative characterizations of Jane Eyre。 Other researchers (Liu 2005, Hu 2012) make analysis on the theme of growth in Jane Eyre。