The Violent Bear It Away

Flannery O’Connor’s, The Violent Bear It Away, is interesting to look at as a bildungsroman because the protagonist and his journey are not heroic.  The book is very dark and twisted, and it is not a novel that I would, on my own merit, think to categorize as a bildungsroman.  However, The Violent Bear It Away is considered a bildungsroman, and I believe it is the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Francis Tarwater that makes it such.  The novel follows Francis’ struggle between a religious life or a secular life, as pressed on him by his two respective guardians, Old Tarwater and Rayber.  Although it may be idealistic, I prefer to think of one’s coming-of-age as a positive process that comes about through a process of courageous decisions and self-cultivation.  On the contrary, the coming-of-age of Tarwater seems to be more of an attempt to escape his life than cultivate it.  This is seen in Francis’ actions of not burying Old Tarwater after his death,burning Old Tarwater’s farm, and drowning Bishop (although he does manage to quickly baptize him just before his death).  Another aspect of this bildungsroman that made it different than what we have read before is that in many ways Francis never actually seems choose for himself his life.  While he performs many actions, they are more mechanical impulses than decisive choices.  In the end, it seems to me that the development of Francis is less about his self-cultivation as his inaction and allowing destiny to take over.