| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
viii, 146 pages : illustrations ; ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Discovering America ; 4 |
|
Discovering America series ; 4.
|
| Note |
Includes index. |
| Summary |
The all-American boy was an iconic figure in American literature for well over a century. Sometimes he was a "good boy," whose dutiful behavior was intended as a model for real boys to emulate. Other times, he was a "bad boy," whose mischievous escapades could be excused either as youthful exuberance that foreshadowed adult industriousness or as deserved attacks on undemocratic pomp and pretension. The author looks at eight classic examples of the all-American boy--young Washington, Rollo, Tom Bailey, Tom Sawyer, Ragged Dick, Peck's "bad boy," Little Lord Fauntleroy, and Penrod--as well as two notable antitheses--Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield. Setting each boy in a rich cultural context, Ziff reveals how the all-American boy represented a response to his times, ranging from the newly independent nation's need for models of democratic citizenship, to the tales of rags-to-riches beloved during a century of accelerating economic competition, to the recognition of adolescence as a distinct phase of life, which created a stage on which the white, middle-class "solid citizen" boy and the alienated youth both played their parts. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Subject |
American literature -- History and criticism.
|
|
Boys in literature.
|
| ISBN |
9780292738928 cloth alkaline paper |
|
0292738927 cloth alkaline paper |
| Sudoc No. |
Z UA380.8 Z644a txdocs |
|
