Il-karatterizzazzjoni fil-letteratura ghat-tfal

Abstract

This dissertation aims at giving a personal view of the role of characterization in children's literature through a proper definition and a systematic analysis of the major different types found in the history and tradition of its genre. It is inevitable and equally necessary that a comparison is made between the way characterization is handled in children's literature and the way it is developed in narrative works which are not intended to reach a definite age group. The first part of this work provides a proper description of the concept of the genre and of the more well known theories related to it.The relation between objective reality and the formation of a character as well as modern approaches to characterization are discussed and exemplified in this section. An attempt is also made to arrive at a proper character classification. The second part applies the more important theories acknowledged in the field to the various literary genres popular among children. It seeks to bridge the gap between the generic conception of characters and their particular realization in texts. The last part strives to give a close look at a set of characters found in a classical Maltese folktale and to analyze them in terms of their being examples of archetypal patterns. These characters are also set against their social background and described in terms of their more evident psychological traits.