Stylistic Approach To Children's Narrative In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain is a giant in American Literature. His delicate familiarity with children's psychology, his thorough understanding of Americans and American society, and his great contributions to American English, have won great respect and reputation among the people around the world. One of his friends, Howells called him "Lincoln of our literature" and a literary critic, H.L.Mencken believed that Mark Twain was "the true father of our national literature, and the first genuine American artist of the blood royal."Of all the works Twain accomplished in his life, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the most successful. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was Twain's masterpiece. It took him eight years to finish it and in 1884 it was published in Britain and then in America in 1885. After that, many critics at home and abroad sang highly of it. The Nobel prize winner and American novelist, Hemingway believed it was the source of American literature. During the course of over one hundred years after its publication, it was popularly read among all walks of man. For years critics pay more attention to Twain's thematic thoughts and the Twainesque humor in his works, ignoring the artistic appeal of his children's narrative. The present thesis intends to analyze the children's narrative in his masterpiece by employing the stylistic approach to appreciate his perfect skill in integrating children's literature and serious literature, and thus the reader can get a better understanding of its theme and characterization.The thesis falls into four parts. Chapter One introduces the aim, object, and approaches of the research in the present thesis. The second chapter reviews the study of the novel. Chapter Three is thecentral part, in which the author deals with the children's narrative hi terms of three aspects: (1) the first - person children's narrative perspective; (2) the children's narrative structure; (3) the idiosyncratic children's narrative language. In Chapter Four, the functions of the children's narrative are precisely discussed. And the conclusion comes the last hi Chapter Five.