What are the motifs in Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe?

Bildungsroman is a recurring idea through the story. This German term for "novel of development" is popular among critics, such as Richard S. Kennedy, in describing the form of Look Homeward, Angel. The opposing forces of adventurous departure and conservative return to the home, represented by Gant and Eliza, the northern man and the southern woman, reveal the struggle in Eugene's growing process. Indeed, the theme of growth is important not only to Eugene's character; it serves as a metaphor for the "American experience" discussed above. Wolfe is interested in the ways America develops through the first decades of the twentieth century, and his novel details the rise to maturity of the South in particular.