Little Big Man | Literary Precedents

Little Big Man Literary Precedents

Little Big Man follows the tradition of the picaresque novel in obvious ways: The hero is a rogue who undergoes comic and antiheroic adventures, sees society from the lower levels, and, like more renowned tricksters, views society from the outside, or from the perspective of another society. Moreover, as in classic eighteenth-century picaresque novels, the trickster hero finally gains a measure of moral or spiritual enlightenment at the conclusion of his adventures. A more important precedent in American literature, however, is Huckleberry Finn, as some parallels already cited suggest. Both Huck and Crabb are orphans who learn to fend for themselves during childhood, and who tend to test every moral statement in the light of their own experience. Similarly, whereas Huck Finn is able to escape to the world of nature in his life on the river, Crabb finds a similar realm of withdrawal in his life among the Cheyennes....
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