A Study Of Mark Twain's Novels About Young Adults

This dissertation is a study of Mark Twain's novels with the subject matter about young adults. Through detailed textual analysis of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc etc., the dissertation tries to explore the themes, analyse the originality, the social significance of his works and find out the elements that played important roles in Twain's writings. .The dissertation is composed of six chapters. The first chapter introduces the main plots of Mark Twain's works, and gives a summary of the studies of Mark Twain at home and abroad. Chapter two analyses the theme about naughty child in Twain's works. It is pointed out that European children's literature has its limitation. With the development of society,the concept of child has been changed. The plot and the characterization of his works shows that Twain is child-oriented. Chapter three reviews American history and American character, explains why Americans are addicted to the literary creation with the theme of roaming,or in other words, picaresque. Twain's works are different from traditional picaresque in two aspects. Chapter four analyses the illustration of the theme of initiation in Twain's works. Owing to his knowledge of society, his hero's initiation differs from that of European Bildungsroman. Chapter five tries to find out the forces that subtly influenced Twain's writings, which include the change of society, the creations of several writers and his relationship with his family members in his childhood.Chapter six sums up the main points of the dissertation. The three themes in his works have their offsprings in the 20th century. Thanks to his efforts, novel about young adults has become an important choice of many American literary masters.