Aspects Of Initiation In Hemingway′s Short Fiction

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ts to define and categorize stories of initiation regarding typical elements will be shortly presented.

2.2.1 Views on the characteristics of stories of initiation
As mentioned in chapter 2.1, `initiation′ in literature focuses on different aspects of the passage from childhood or adolescence to adulthood than the anthropologic term denoting mainly rituals of primitive societies. In general, four aspects of initiation can be found in literature (Freese 95). This chapter will give a brief overview about these characteristics.
First of all, initiation as a process in literary descriptions denotes the disillusioning process of the discovery of the existence of evil, which is depicted as a confrontation of the innocent protagonist with guilt and atonement (Freese 95) and often has the notion of a shocking experience. This confrontation usually includes a progress in the protagonists character or marks a step towards self-understanding. Thus, the first type describes an episode which leads the protagonist to gaining insight and gaining ...