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Sidekicks in American Literature (Studies in American Literature, Volume 55)
Sidekicks in American Literature - Studies in American Literature, Volume 55 Author:Ann Cameron In the American novels considered in this text, sidekicks transform from direct imitations of Sancho Panza into mentors, rustic scouts or even daemonic/demonic characters bent on harming their masters or mistresses. In these forms, the sidekick raises concern about education and miseducation of the hero, initiation into adulthood and the role of... more » the trickster, masquerade, and deception in the formation of character. Bakhtin's analysis of heteroglossia in the novel helps explain the important dialogic, thematic, generic and narrative functions the sidekick provides. Works examined include: "The Female Quixote" (1752) by Charlotte Lennox; "Female Quixotism" (1801) by Tabitha Tenney; "Modern Chivalry" (1792 - 97) by Hugh Henry Brackenbridge; "Paul Felton" (1822) by Richard Henry Dana; "Koningsmarke"(1823) and "The Dutchman's Fireside" (1831) by James Kirke Paulding; "Horse-shoe Robinson" (1835) by John Pendleton Kennedy; "George Balcombe" (1836) by Nathaniel Beverley Tucker; "Lafitte" (1836) by Joseph Holt Ingraham; "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" (1838) by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Scarlet Letter" (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. The development of the sidekick figure also roughly parallels concerns with the nature of authority during both the American Revolution and the Civil War.« less