earticle

영어

This paper investigates the childhood, dominant culture and dominant ideology in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The two stories present the author’s pictures of the ‘real’ 19th century American childhood. Clearly, he focuses on childhood issues rather than race and freedom even in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. However, the images of childhood described in the stories are not so positive. The master narratives show the atmospheres are surcharged with imminent violence and amorality. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn come from broken families. They are branded as a ‘good’ child or a ‘bad’ child according to their behaviors. The white adults, including Aunt Polly, Miss Watson, Widow Douglas and Aunt Sally, believe that their duties are to educate and ‘civilize’ the likes of Tom and Huck. But the dominant adult ideology itself is tainted by violence, corruption and moral decay. Children are often victims of it. Twain criticizes the dominant adult culture and ideology by examining the politics of the childhood—the notion of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ child in the two stories.