Bildungsroman Form

Compare the ways in which the texts represent the moral development of each protagonist. The techniques in each quote are in bold. Identify these
techniques and describe their effect in the first column. Explain what these techniques reveal about each characters development in the last column. Use
the timelines of development for Alice and Elizabeth to assist you. Once the tables are completed, answer the focus questions on the last page.
LETTERS TO ALICE Alices development
Quote
Letter 1, p. 7
The last time I saw you, you were two, blonde and
cherubic. Now, I gather, you are eighteen, you dye
your hair black and green with vegetable dye, and
your mother is perturbed.

Letter 2, p. 27
I have no doubt, Alice, that you have a set of
unquestioned beliefs 1) It is better to be good than
bad 10) The BBC has the best TV service in the
world... It takes great courage and persistence to
swim against the stream of communal ideas.
Letter 8
If you persist with your novel, Alice, you will find it
difficult to finish. Because if you finish it, you will then
have the problem of whether or not you actually want
it published You are building your house in the City
of Invention: the responsibility terrifies you. Success
is a dreadful thing.

Letter 13, p. 138

Oh, Alice, has your relationship with your professor,
however unfortunate, not given to your character
much of what it now possesses that is honourable,
dignified and disinterested?
Letter 16, p. 148

Technique

Stage of development

I still maintain that it is better to read than not to

read, and I still deplore what you refer to as your
general amiable illiteracy. Can you be developing
some kind of house style?

Letter 16, p. 148

Your mother tells me you have your own hair back
again. (What you call greasy mouse, and she calls
healthy, clean and natural.)

Summary of Alices development

Searching for
independence and
individualism through
physical change emotionally immature
and restless

Learning to challenge
societal conventions and
have confidence in own
ideas - making own
mistakes and learning
from them

Developing own values

and beliefs and reverting
to natural appearance emotionally mature and
settled

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Elizabeths development

Quote
Chapter 19
I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not
make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last
woman in the world who could make you so. Nay,
were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I am
persuaded she would find me in every respect illqualified for the situation!

Chapter 24
The more I see of the world, the more I am
dissatisfied with it.

Chapter 36
She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. Of neither
Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling
that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd
Till this moment, I never knew myself.

Chapter 46
If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of
affection, Elizabeth's change of sentiment will be
neither improbable nor faulty.

Technique

Stage of development

Chapter 50
His understanding and temper, though unlike her
own, would have answered all her wishes by her
ease and liveliness, his mind might have been
softened, his manners improved, and from his
judgment, information, and knowledge of the world,
she must have received benefit of greater
importance.

Summary of Elizabeths development

Defending adamantly
own principles, sure of
self - inflexible or narrow
in thought, lack of ability
to judge own actions

Realising extent of
prejudice or partiliaty,
reflecting in hindsight on
self-contradictory
behaviour - recognition
of ill judgment

Discerning character
through experience, not
by imposing standards
on others - grown wiser,
less judgmental, more
flexible in thinking

Focus questions:
1. What is the overall purpose of each text?
Pride and Prejudice- ________________________________________________________________________________________
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Letters to Alice-____________________________________________________________________________________________
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2. How does the bildungsroman form assist in achieving the purpose of the texts?
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3. How does Alices journey in Letters to Alice reshape your understanding of Pride and Prejudice?
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