Abstract

The present study takes an in-depth look at the position of a 19th century child fiction author in light of Perry Nodelman’s (2008) colonialist argument. Through a post-structuralist textual analysis, the thesis discusses how Mark Twain uses different stylistic manipulations in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) to colonise the landscape of childhood. The analyses of passages taken from the piece indicate that the author appeared to be aware of his position in an industry that affords young demographics with images of childhood. From this position, the author is shown to exert his potency in tailoring the specific images of childhood he wished to distribute amongst an envisioned readership. These findings contribute to strengthen Nodelman’s (2008) argument on the role of adults involved in the production of children’s popular culture. Specifically, this study emphasises how authors of child fiction can easily invade landscapes of childhood to disseminate adult-constructed images. Child readers are therefore left to absorb and/or manipulate what is external to their experience. This contributes to the ongoing conversation on the position occupied by adults in fields of children popular culture and education and how their presence can, consciously or not, bias the representation of childhood that youngsters interact with as they live in their current state.
Keywords: Childhood, literature, popular-culture, adult-authors