Strange Children, Strange World

Richard Hughes's A High Wind in Jamaica is a classic work of children's novel. In 1929, the book is published in England. It is firstly seen by Chinese readers in 2006. The image of children is so attractive in this novel. This group of innocent children undergoes a serious of difficulties on their way home and finally they are successful. At the same time, they realize their self-verification. This paper uses Lacan's theory of mirror to explain the occurrence and formation of self-verification in the process of children's growth. The paper also lets us identify the abnormally childish peculiarity and experience the charming of this novel.This dissertation consists of five parts.The first part is a brief introduction and comment about the author and the work. In China, this novel is firstly published in 2006, so criticism on this novel is rarely seen. This part mainly introduces the author and the novel.The second and third part bases on Lacan's theory of mirror and combines the text to explain the process of children's self-verification. The children want to know themself; they must distinguish others and themselves. In other people's view and expectation, the children establish their ideal image. In different people's view and expectation, this ideal image is different. This image will also change in different period. The forth part is an analysis to the result of this self-verification. Children and pirates' identity reverse under the influence of the others and the power. The pirates become victim and the children become killer. Finally, the children show unfamiliar face which makes us surprising.A serious of children' images which are portrayed by the author give us much enlightenment. The last part mainly discusses this enlightenment. Children's peculiarity is made by the others. It is the strange adult world that makes the strange children's world.