"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails" : Boys and behaviour in the USA

Smith, Matthew (2019) "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails" : Boys and behaviour in the USA. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 36 (1). pp. 51-79. ISSN 2371-0179 (https://doi.org/10.3138/cbmh.236-112017)

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Abstract

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain introduced two of the most iconic boys in American literature. Tom and Huck become heroic figures, despite their penchant for bad behaviour. Indeed, it is their propensity to be impulsive, break rules and defy authority that win them the day. Today, however, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have become the posterboys for a psychiatric disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. I trace how and why attitudes about pathological boys' behaviour reversed during the twentieth century, from a focus on shy, introverted, and physically passive boys to the very opposite - boys like Tom and Huck. I argue that, rather than imposing limits on childhood behaviour, we should be more accepting and encouraging of all types of children.

ORCID iDs

Smith, Matthew ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9267-2124;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:65534
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 May 2019
    Published
    22 March 2019
    Published Online
    21 September 2018
    Accepted
    Keywords:ADHD, boys, history, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, medical history, United States of America, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, History, History
    Subjects:History General and Old World
    Department:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Humanities > History
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:25 Sep 2018 11:56
    Last modified:04 Aug 2023 00:20
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/65534
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