| The Green Years |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT THE GREEN YEARS | |
| bildungsroman | |
| 1940s novels | |
| green years, the | |
| british novels | |
''The Green Years'' is a 1944 novel by A. J. Cronin which paints the story of an Orphan growing up in Central Scotland. SIGNIFICANCE OF TITLE The title, ''The Green Years'', has several connotations. On one hand, this is a story about a boy's coming of age. However, the central character, Robert Shannon, also has a fascination with the natural world. Also, he is an Irish boy growing up in Scotland. In the novel, he is forced for a time to wear a green suit made for him by his Grandma, and is mercilessly teased because of it. STRUCTURE OF THE NOVEL The novel consists of three "books." Book One portrays the protagonist's arrival in Scotland as a child, following the death of his parents back in Ireland. Book Two focuses on the character's adolescence and ends on a pair of tragedies: the death of his best friend and his failure to win a scholarship to medical school, due to illness. Book Three begins with the protagonist as an embittered figure, entering the adult working world with no hope for the future. However, the death of his grandfather brings him an inheritance that will allow him to pursue his dreams, after all. |
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