한국계 미국 청소년의 정체성과 미국 사회의 불공정성 - 『호랑이를 덫에 가두면』을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper pays attention to the relationship between Korean-American teenagers and tigers in the young adult novel When You Trap a Tiger, by Korean-American writer Tae Keller to examine the Korean-American teenager character’s self-identity issues. The author shows that Asian-American teenagers can be alienated from mainstream society through the setting where the main character, Lily, has the superpower to turn into an invisible person. The author warns that Korean adolescents’ early mental maturity can be false growth caused by the circumstances of immigrant families. This false growth makes it difficult to survive Korean-Ameican adolescents in American society in the long run, thus they need to learn active self-expression rather than consideration and obedience to their families. Also, the strong familialism of immigrant families can hinder their independence from their parents. In this respect, the writer advises that Asian-American adolescents should face up to the fact that American society is not friendly to Asian immigrants and should be able to criticize unfair treatment with appropriate aggression. The writer also positively deals with the active transformations of the pre-modern Korean story, “The brother and sister who became the sun and the moon,” depending on immigrant generations. For the grandmother's generation, Korea or Koreanness is a heavy burden that must be avoided and rejected. Korea’s past has many tragic historical events. However, Korea can be reborn as a magical space and Koreaness can be valuable asset when later generations focus on the bright side of Korea such as people’s stong will to live.