Female Bildungsroman:The Transition from Girlhood to Womanhood in Chingiz Aitmatov’s The First Teacher

Bildungsroman or the Formation Novel traces the development of the protagonist from childhood to womanhood. Education is part of the child’s maturation and preparation for the impending adulthood. Chingiz Aitmatov is an emblematic and prolific Kirghiz writer. The paper examines Aitmatov’s My First Teacher as a female Bildungsroman. It exposes the emotional paralysis and entrapment experienced by Altynai in the enclosed and bigoted setting of a small Kirghiz village Kurkureu. Aitmatov not only presents women as the victims of a patriarchal society subjected to the pressures of restrictive gendered expectations but also pronounces liberation for women through Duishen the teacher who initiates the empowerment of Altynai through imparting education.