『햄릿』을 경유한 『월 플라워』 텍스트 읽기와 가르치기

Reading and Teaching The Perks of Being a Wallflower via Hamlet

This article initiates an interrogation of the young adult novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) by Stephen Chbosky, within its relationship of influence with William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This study is set against the backdrop of the current reality of English education in Korean high schools and universities, where learning is overwhelmingly concentrated on preparing for the CSAT, TOEIC, TOEFL, and the secondary English teacher certification exam, while literature is being marginalized. Most of all, this research aims to closely examine The Perks of Being a Wallflower from a literary textual perspective, focusing on past traumatic experiences, an unconscious sense of loss, adolescent melancholy, suicidal ideation, and the process of restoration through relationships with family, relatives, and friends. Furthermore, by sharing classroom experiences related to Hamlet’s soliloquy and the subsequent reading of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, it seeks to investigate why Korean students find it difficult to relate to and understand the protagonist, Charlie, within the context of the social and cultural gap between the novel and the Korean social and educational realities surrounding them. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore why teaching English literature remains difficult, despite the changes in English education brought about by the introduction of the high school credit system and revisions to the secondary English curriculum, as well as the recognized and unrecognized educational benefits of English literature.