Narrative technique as rhetorical strategy in selected children's works by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This study provides an in-depth rhetorical analysis of four of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works for children: The Whole History of Grandfather's Chair, Biographical Stories for Children, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys , and Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys. Using rhetorician James Phelan's concepts of teller, technique, story, audience, purpose, and situation, this study analyzes Hawthorne's children's works for the rhetorical effectiveness of his narrative strategies. Guided by the concept set forth by rhetoricians Wayne Booth and Michael Kearns that it is critical to understand how well a given narrative technique suits the purpose of the situation, this study contends that Hawthorne's keen awareness of audience and purpose helped him create rhetorically effective narratives for children.; This study traces the development of Hawthorne's strategies in his children's literature and concludes that Hawthorne spent many years developing his narrative strategies for children, which culminate in his most rhetorically effective work for children, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys. Hawthorne framed this collection as well as the two preceding collections with an external narrative to connect the shorter sketches, but he did not employ this narrative strategy in his final collection, Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys .; Rhetorical analysis reveals that Hawthorne's narrative strategies in his children's literature are effective on many levels. Hawthorne skillfully narrated history so that it would be engaging and entertaining for children; and, as the first American to retell classical myths for children, he carefully revised myth in a way that would be exciting for a child audience and acceptable for a nineteenth-century adult audience.