The bildungsroman is a literary work, often referred to as a genre, that explores a character’s personal growth and development through adulthood. While that development is physical, as time passes, it is also mental, moral, and psychological. The term comes from the German words bildung, which means “education,” and roman, meaning “novel.”

The genre is rooted in folktales that tell stories of the youngest child in a family leaving home to seek money or some form of aid for their family and then returning home having learned about the world. Today, bildungsroman novels still typically follow a similar pattern, with “a loss or a tragedy that disturbs the main character emotionally” and them “leav[ing] on a journey to fill that vacuum” (“Bildungsroman.” Literary Devices). In Not an Easy Win, the inciting action is Lawrence’s expulsion from school, leaving him feeling lost, bored, and useless as his Granny threatens that “a man that don’t work don’t eat” (12). As he wanders the town, he ends up finding Mr. Dennis, a neighbor who takes him on a “journey” to the local rec center.