莫莉‧柯茵的名作《好規矩》是女主角兼敍事者萼茹‧聖查爾斯的成長故事，她是盎格魯愛爾蘭大屋裡的「大女孩」─體態與食量皆然，成長的歷程充滿挫折與羞辱。首先，儘管家道中落，聖查爾斯家堅持奉行嚴格的社交舉止守則，崇尚「好規矩」，強行抑制人的情感。萼茹的雙親，特別是母親，以「好規矩」之名冷漠無情地對待她，使她的身體和心靈都感到匱乏。為了求生，萼茹靠著自我欺騙來假裝自己被愛，藉以維持某種自我意識，儘管當中充滿扭曲。本研究將《好規矩》置於愛爾蘭反成長小說的傳統中，探討萼茹社會化過程的失敗及其意義。受限於「好規矩」的守則，萼茹的自我形塑更像是扭曲自我的畸變過程，因為她的自我意識是由自欺達成，造成她的雙重疏離，除了疏離於她的社會，更糟的是她與自我的疏離。藉由反成長小說的手法，柯茵巧妙地使用原本應該實現成長與自我認識的文類，來突顯自我認識的不足與成長的失敗。傳統成長小說的結局裡，主角終於在人世間找到了家的歸屬感，然而萼茹雖然成為大屋的女主人，卻只有疏離而沒有歸屬感，反而顯得無家可歸。其失敗的社會化歷程，正是《好規矩》對於盎格魯愛爾蘭階級最後的日子，最深刻的批判。

Molly Keane’s masterpiece, Good Behaviour, is a story of development narrated by its female protagonist, Aroon St. Charles, who is a “big girl”—in terms of both figure and appetite—growing up in an Anglo-Irish Big House. Aroon’s development is marked by frustration and humiliation. For one thing, despite the dwindling fortune and status of the family, the St. Charles nevertheless insists on a strict code of manner that sanctifies “good behavior,” which imposes an almost inhuman control of emotions. In the name of good behavior, Aroon is treated coldly and cruelly by her parents, especially her mother, who deprives Aroon of physical nourishment and psychological comfort. As a means of survival, Aroon resorts to self-deception and pretends she is loved, so as to retain some form of selfhood however distorted it might be. Situating Good Behaviour in the tradition of Irish anti-bildungsroman, this paper probes into Aroon’s failed socialization and its significance. Constrained by the social code of good behavior, Aroon’s self-formation is better understood as self-deformation, for her sense of self is achieved wryly through self-deception, resulting in her double alienation from her society and even more devastatingly from her own self. With the anti-bildungsroman, Keane ingeniously uses the form originally meant for achieving development and self-knowledge to indicate the lack thereof. Whereas the denouement of classical bildungsroman lies in the protagonist finally accomplishing a sense of belonging, of feeling at home in the world, Aroon remains homeless even though she is mistress of her house. Aroon’s failed socialization is what makes Good Behaviour such a poignant critique of the Anglo-Irish in their last days.