Abstract: Doris Lessing is a British woman writer and also the eleventh women winner of the Nobel prize in literature. Most of her novels are mainly focused on the women’s spiritual growth and self-realization. The Summer Before the Dark was created with a female perspective of observing and experiencing life in 1973. This thesis discusses in detail its characteristics as an initiation novel in terms of the protagonist’s personality, the heroine’s guide and companion and the plot pattern respectively. Based on the domestic and foreign scholars' research on this novel, the thesis aims at proving that The Summer Before the Dark is a typical initiation novel with obvious characteristics of Bildungsroman.

Key Words: The Summer Before the Dark; initiation novels; personality; guide and companion;plot pattern

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要：

1. Introduction……1

  1.1 Introduction to Doris Lessing and The Summer Before the Dark

  1.2 Origin and Development of Initiation Novel

  1.3 The definition of Initiation Novel

2. Literature Review.3

3.The Characteristics of The Summer Before the Dark as an Initiation Novel3

  3.1 Changeable Personality of the Protagonist

  3.2 Guides and Companion 

  3.3 The Confusion-Epiphany-Maturity Plot Pattern

4.Conclusions7

Bibliography9

Acknowledgments10