THE MOTIF OF FRIENDSHIP IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AS INNOCENCE, LOYALTY, AND GROWTH

This comparative study examines the artistic interpretation of the motif of friendship in late 19th-century Anglo-American children’s literature, focusing on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871), alongside Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In Carroll’s nonsense-driven fantasy, friendship appears as ephemeral, whimsical encounters that highlight the protagonist’s isolation and self-discovery amid an absurd adult world. In Twain’s realist narratives, friendship emerges as a profound, redemptive force that fosters moral growth, challenges social hierarchies (including race and class), and critiques societal hypocrisy. Through close textual analysis and cultural contextualization, this paper argues that these divergent portrayals reflect broader transatlantic differences: British Victorian emphasis on individual imagination and solitude versus American frontier valorization of egalitarian bonds and ethical awakening. Ultimately, both authors elevate friendship as a central vehicle for exploring childhood agency, innocence, and maturation in an era when children’s literature transitioned from didacticism to psychological depth.