IndexPhysical and Emotional Pain: What Makes the Story Better?Postcolonial BildungsromaneConclusionsPhysical and Emotional Pain: What Makes the Story Better?Pain is a very human thing to consider feeling , whether it comes in physical or emotional form. As a “human” concept, it is fascinating that pain can be (and is) expressed through literature. Because as much as we wish some characters were living, breathing human beings, they're not. I would like to explore the idea that the presence of pain is a tool used by authors to present their characters in a more “full” or human way. The exploration of this concept will be conducted through in-depth readings of pre- and postcolonial bildungsromane. This will help my argument, which is that the presence of pain in postcolonial novels, as opposed to precolonial bildungsromane, allows characters to seem fuller than flat and, therefore, allows them to approach humanity. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, I would like to touch on the concept of “complete” and “flat” characters, which I will refer to throughout the rest of the article the essay. To introduce a new metaphor, I would like to say that I believe that the characters in a novel can be seen as a basket of fruit. The basket itself is the shell of a character. The fact that they are mentioned in the story space guarantees them a basket. But the amount of different types of fruit that fill that basket determines how “full” that character's personality is and his emotional relationality with the reader (and, ultimately, his humanity). Flat characters would be the basket which, for example, only contains apples. It still has fruit and is still technically full, but it's not varied, it's not as fun and it's also a little bland. On the other hand, complete character baskets contain an assortment of bright colors and a wide range of flavors: everything from regular apples and oranges to the more fun or exotic star fruits, mangoes and kiwis. And they are full to the brim. To build on my metaphor, I would say that the more varied a bowl of fruit is - or the more complete a character is - the more humanly relatable one or more characters will become. Next, I would like to discuss the difference between physical and emotional pain and the different types of weight that these pains take on when present within a novel. Emotional pain is simply easier to achieve in the context of a novel, since the author has all the resources available to create emotional scenes. All they really need are a few correctly placed words with which one character expresses to another that he or she is experiencing emotional pain (normally through dialogue) and there you have it: emotional pain! Physical pain, on the other hand, is a more vivid concept that isn't as easy to realize on the page. It's not enough for a character to say they're in physical pain, through dialogue. Typically, there is a scene preceding that dialogue – if there is any – that allows the reader to have a much more in-depth experience. For physical pain to become believable in a novel, the author has to put in a little more elbow grease to make it perfect. This gives physical pain more weight when it comes to creating a well-rounded character, although emotional pain cannot be completely ruled out within the scope of this topic. And, for the last, vital part of my introduction: I want to explain that, in order to Next delve into the theme of humanity within a novel, I must first clarify that, although the characters in a novel must seem human, they are not real. This may seem like an obvious and simple fact, but many readers andwriters have difficulty determining the difference. In the analysis of literature, we often mistakenly talk about characters as if they were real people, with real feelings, living outside the space of the story - which is simply not the case. Every aspect of a character that we see within a novel was placed there intentionally by the author. When analyzing literature, we must always keep this fact in mind, so as to provide an accurate reading of the author's work, one that explores intention rather than simply exploring ambiguous concepts pulled out of thin air. Pre-colonial Bildungsroman novels were at the forefront of the Bildungsroman genre. Normally they would be simply defined as “bildungsroman”, without the specification of “precolonial”. The reason I mention them as such here is to make the comparison between the early bildungsromane and the postcolonial bildungsromane clearer. I will first introduce two pre-colonial coming-of-age novels, and then compare the incorporation of physical and emotional pain presented in them (or lack thereof) versus two post-colonial coming-of-age novels, and how it impacts the fullness of the characters in each. The pre-colonial novel I would like to present is Goethe's The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is sometimes called the father of bildung. It is one of the first Bildungsroman and is used in classrooms across countries to teach the Bildungsroman, or in other words, a character's journey. What does it take to have a complete picture? Does a novel have to be as long as this to get the point across? -- These are some of the questions we are asked in class. And more importantly, these are not questions I will ask or answer here. Instead, I would like to present a different view of Wilhelm Meister. My questions are as follows: How much pain is presented in this novel, and is it presented physically or emotionally? How full is Wilhelm's character? And does the length of this novel attest to the conclusion we have reached regarding the fullness of Wilhelm's character? Most of the pain mentioned in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is emotional. You see this over and over again, because Wilhelm is an unquestionably emotionally driven character. This was clearly intended by Goethe, which is made evident through the sheer constancy of emotionality projected by Wilhelm – and, more importantly, it is the consistent presentation of emotional pain, which becomes an important part of Wilhelm's journey. From the beginning, emotional pain is highlighted as such: “There followed days of repeated and constantly revived pain… he had not entirely lost his beloved, and his pain was a series of insistently renewed attempts to hold on to the happiness that he had left him" (Goethe, 41). The pain seen throughout the novel is also somewhat filtered through the dialogue. In a conversation with Jarno near the end of the novel, Wilhelm states: “We are forced to abandon our deepest feelings and desires because of him. I will accept this commission, although I foresee the anguish I will have to suffer from Lydie's tears and despair'” (Goethe, 269). The presence of emotional pain is always looming and almost impossible to ignore. Although emotional pain takes over in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Wilhelm's journey is not entirely free of physical pain. But, when it is presented, it is often filtered through dialogue, quite similar to the emotional pain presented in the novel. To extend the concept even further, the physical pain that Goethe incorporates does not even come from Wilhelm's own experience, but from the dialogue of others who share it with him. It's almost as if theWilhelm's character was not intended to experience physical pain, but was to focus exclusively on emotional pain. An example of this comes to light when Wilhelm argues with Melina the first time they meet. Melina tells Wilhelm: “'You must have really thick skin, like a bear on a chain, beaten with a stick in the company of dogs and monkeys, to dance to the sound of the bagpipe before the children and the rabble'” (Goethe, 28) . As humans, we experience physical pain day in and day out, whether it's back pain, headaches, stumbled toes, or punches. The glaring absence of any purely physical pain in Goethe's novel means that Wilhelm and the other characters are unable to achieve the potential fullness they might otherwise achieve. The length of this novel is one of the reasons why I believe real physical pain is absent for Guglielmo's character. Adding physical pain would have added much more length to the novel and would have added a completely different aspect that Goethe didn't seem to care about. Goethe worked hard to create for Wilhelm an emotional world that seemed complete without the more physical aspects. The most intriguing part is that Goethe consciously adds pieces to his novel that highlight the fact that emotional pain is not important to fill a character or advance the plot. He basically supports my thesis when, at the beginning of the second "book" of the novel, the narrator himself calls attention to the insignificance of a certain measure of emotional pain: "...we will not treat our readers to a detailed account of the misfortunes and sorrows of our unfortunate friend when he saw his hopes and wishes so unexpectedly dashed, but rather skipping a few years” (Goethe, 41). It is clear, in this passage, that Goethe was more concerned with Wilhelm's journey than to fill him with beautiful fruits that would make him an even more delicious and full character. The absence of physical pain and the addition of less emotional pain leaves Wilhelm's character with only apples in the basket physical and emotional pain in these novels is much more evident than in the previous precolonial bildungsromane. The novel I will have conducted an in-depth reading on is Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane. Kane's novel opens with the very physical discipline that the spiritual "master", Thierno, instills in the protagonist, Samba Diallo. The novel begins memorably with the phrase "That day, Thierno had beaten him again" (Kane, 3), and already in the first pages, the reader experiences Samba's pain together with him, as he is pinched on the thigh, Nails tore the cartilage of his ear and he was burned. In these passages the contrast of Thierno's thoughts is not absent, praising this boy whom he physically punishes while reciting his prayer. We also discover a short time later that Samba is not troubled by the beatings: in fact he remembers them with great affection, because, as he had been taught, they were helping him to reach “the highest levels of human greatness” (Kane, 5). Kane's introduction of this way of teaching into Samba's story, and Samba's eventual appreciation for it, is reminiscent of Samba's feelings toward the Western occupation of Africa at the end of the novel. This presentation of physical pain the author not only gives a higher pedestal by using it as an introduction, but sets a limit for physical pain that places it parallel to the good things experienced by Samba. So there is an underlying belief that Kane works into his novel, which is the belief that pain is good, it gives you results and you learn from it. This goes beyond anything seen in precolonial Bildungsroman novels. As for theemotional pain noted in Ambiguous Adventure, is strangely linked to physical pain in the novel: “For some days it had been extremely painful for him to live in the village. The teacher had become eccentric in his behavior, and it seemed to Samba Diallo that he was immediately less severe and more distant” (Kane, 36). Although his physical pain has disappeared, he is unhappy: Samba is unable to feel emotional pain without grieving the lack of physical pain he had experienced. An echo of this is created through Kane's repetition of physical and emotional pain becoming a complete package. Later in the novel, the knight tells Samba: "'... one can work out of necessity, for the cessation of the great pain of need that springs from the body and the earth - to impose silence on all those who voices that harass us with their requests. Then you also work to maintain yourself, to preserve the species" (Kane, 88). he use of these echoes creates an interesting paradox that I believe Kane uses to comment on the differences between his novel and those of precolonial bildungsromane Although the emotional aspect is considered important, he holds physical pain to a higher standard of humanity: it is not It's possible to have the emotional without the presence of the physical. And, to keep with the metaphor: as for Samba's fruit basket, it would be filled to the brim with delicious, juicy fruits of all kinds. Kane gives his characters variety of pain that makes them fuller and more emotionally recognisable. Conclusion Precolonial and postcolonial coming-of-age novels both have similar things to offer: the journey of a lifetime, an arc that their characters follow, and a growth and change that is an experience that is an inevitable aspect of the genre. The differences between time periods and cultures are what create the differences between the two: One of the most notable differences is the presence and use of both emotional and physical pain. The concept of pain in literature is strange, because when we Studying and analyzing literature, we should realize that the characters themselves are not real. Words on a page couldn't create the idea of ​​something so human, could they? Somehow, even if the concept seems out of reach, the authors are able to evoke human feelings and emotions in their characters – intentionally, in fact, and sometimes very effectively. This is why it is so important to study the use of physical and emotional pain in Bildungsroman novels. The use of emotional or physical pain to exemplify a character's fullness in the context of the novel is intentional, and I wanted to find out which model was more effective: the precolonial or postcolonial approach. As far as pre-colonial novels go, the depth of Wilhelm's character is hindered by the inhumanity of overlooking the physical pain that humans go through in their daily lives. Because of Goethe's inability or unwillingness to add a concrete layer of physical pain to Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (and focusing entirely on Wilhelm's emotional pains), his characters are not complete characters to the extent that they could be. Is this a problem? Maybe not. But, in the grand scheme of the bildungsroman genre, precolonial novels may not live up to the depth that postcolonial novels are willing to delve into. Please note: this is just an example. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The harsh truth about the extent of pain experienced in Ambiguous Adventure is so fascinating, because the instances are simply words on a page. How does Kane communicate these instances to his reader? Although in the.