크리티컬 리터러시로 분석한 『피터 팬』에 내재된 인종과 여성에 대한 차별과 편견

Analyzing Discriminations and Biases toward Race and Gender Hidden in Peter Pan through Teaching Critical Literacy(CL)

This study aims at reading Peter Pan with CL in order to expose biases and discriminations therein toward race and women. CL focuses on making students active learners capable of equipping problem-posing questions based on critical awareness to challenge the author’s negative intentions hidden in the text. Furthermore, by implementing classes devoted to CL methodology, the teacher and students, as partners, can change teacher-oriented classrooms into better, democratic classrooms, where participants can share, respect and support each other’s honest opinions to establish justice and equality in the classroom, and by extension apply the same lessons outside of it in the real world. Through the application of CL to Peter Pan, readers are able to encounter and recognize serious discriminations and biases toward colored races and women. An example of these biases is this: the white characters retain superiorities and are empowered to greater extents than other races. Additionally, out of all female characters, only the white woman is considered beautiful, which demonstrates a bias that white women’s appearance is a more ideal form of beauty. At the same time, some characters without white skin color are completely marginalized and ignored by the whites. Thirdly, all female characters are depicted as passive and feeble. They always hope for a male’s help and do not possess any ability to escape from harsh realities on their own. To summarize, the colored races and women in Peter Pan are depicted as the weak and incompetent compared to the white and male characters, an attitude which is derived from the author’s unjust biases. In conclusion, as equipping CL, students can attain diverse perspectives concerning justice and equality to observe current sociocultural phenomenons. As a result, they can finally not only penetrate biases and discriminations generated from the author, but also acquire a method to spread tolerance and equality into society.