A Study of Growth of Youth and Its Meaning in Tsao, Wen-hsuan’s Young Adult Novels-Using Three Novels: “Thatched Memories,” “Hongwa,” and “Goats Do Not Eat Heavenly Grass” as Examples

• Main Authors: TSAI YU LING, 蔡瑜玲
• Other Authors: CHUNG PING LAN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/74030435332580137709

碩士 === 國立屏東師範學院 === 國民教育研究所 === 92 === Tsao, Wen-hsuan is a contemporary and influential writer of young adult novels in Mainland China. His works are of profound literary creation and technique. As a writer of children’s book, he shoulders a mission to build the future characteristics of generations to come. His novels not only have a Western style, but also are rich in literary implications. This paper studies Tsao’s three long novels including “Thatched Memories,” “Hongwa,” and “Goats Do Not Eat Heavenly Grass” which reflect every aspect of real life. The study focuses on analyzing the characters in the novels and further explores how Tsao, Wen-hsua demonstrated the unique image value of each character during the growing process. Finally, it concludes with the meaning of growth and its inspiration from the character images that Tsao attempted to convey, and contrasts and compares with his creative concepts of children’s books. This study is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, which explicates the research motivation and objectives, methodology and procedures, and scope and limitations. The second chapter is “Tsao, Wen-hsuan’s theory of children literature and his works.” It discusses his life, his writing background, writing perspectives, and the main subjects of the stories. The third chapter presents the “Background and Descriptions of The Young Characters.” This chapter analyzes the time, social background, looks and world of the young characters in “Thatched Memories,” “Hongwa,” and “Goats Do Not Eat Heavenly Grass.” The “Growing Process of Young People” is the main issue in the fourth chapter, which studies how Tsao built and delineated the stories, situation, experiences, conflicts, and challenges faced by young people when they grow up. The fifth chapter points out the “Growth Connotation of The Young Characters.” It first analyzes the connection between Tsao’s process of growth and the three novels, and further concludes on the inspiration and meaning of growth that Tsao tried to convey by building his young characters. Finally, the chapter compares them with his creative concepts. The last chapter concludes the research results.