The Violent Bear It Away- Bildungsroman

It is difficult to characterize The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor as a bildungsroman because when people think about growth, it is usually positive.  Nevertheless, Francis, the protagonist, depicts a boy coming-of age even though as the novel progresses, he falls further from the ways of heroic figures such as Harry ad Huck.  This fourteen years old boy struggles with how to live his life.  In his case, he has only two types of life to pick, one of Old Tarwater and the other of Rayber.  Old Tarwater's extremist life is based on blind religion while Rayber's extremist life is based on intellect and reason.  These two isolated extremists' lives foreshadow the doom awaiting Francis.  It is evident from the beginning of the novel, when O'Connor shows Francis's deteriorating mental condition as he struggles to free himself from Old Tarwater.  Hence, Francis burns all the memories of him and run to this uncle, Rayber.  He escapes from one extremist into the house of another where Raybe manipulates him to murder Bishop, which leads him to lose another part of his sanity.  At last, he encounters Lilac man and was raped, which causes him to lose the last part of his sanity.