The Functionality of Child's Perspective as a Narrative Technique

Abstract

This article examines technical features of novels and short stories narrated from a child's point of view and attempts to point out the goal of writers who adopt this perspective, and the functionality of its use. In texts where a child's point of view is presented, the use of language leads to a double-layered structure of meaning. Differences between the language that the child uses and perceives and that of the adult reader lead the child-narrator, writer and adult reader to be face-to-face with different codes. In the article it is shown through references to both Turkish and World Literature that there is a common thematical and structural pattern in texts narrated from the child's point of view. These texts have common features in terms of issues that are addressed, narrative techniques that are used, writer's attitudes and other features related to this. The texts also have different types of relations with the reader as they deal with relatively delicate issues from a child's point of view. In order to keep distractions from the main issue to a minimum, the child's point of view is used to consider issues such as racism, class discrimination, and political and social freedom. The authors' intention is for readers to reduce their biases by making them encounter an actor with whom it is relatively easier to empathize.