Novel Education Approaches for Introspection and Mourning Regarding Death
김지혜
이화여자대학교
korean language education research 54Vol. 3No. pp.35-63 (2019)
Abstract
In traditional society, the life and death were naturally coexisting while the death is mostly avoided or excluded from life in modern society. In order to overcome problems with the exclusion of death, the researches on the thanatology have been continued in countries like the US and Germany since the 1960s, and the necessity of death education started rising. The death education on issues like understanding and philosophical introspection of death, sorrow and condolences on other’s death, and medical/scientific bioethics is necessary to arouse the realization of the preciousness of life in human beings. Especially, the death of oneself or others could be indirectly experienced through novels, so that the sorrow and fear of death could be overcome, and the value and attitude toward death could be established as well. This study concretely examined the possibility of death education through novels by Kim, Ae-Ran. Kim, Ae-Ran’s 『My Brilliant Life』 is the narration of a patient with progeria suffering from rapid aging and death. Through this novel, the learners could introspect the aging and death that would be experienced by humans, and then realize the preciousness of life. Also, her short stories 「The Onset of Winter」 and 「Where Would You Like To Go?」 handle the stories of characters left behind after losing a beloved family member. Through these two novels, the learners could experience the process of sorrow and mourning of people who have lost beloved ones, and also think about how to console others going through the sorrow of death. Even though humans unavoidably experience the death, life could be more cherished due to the existence of wound and death. Through the literary works talking about death, the learners could not only expand the range of introspection on human beings, but also learn about the true value of life.
Keywords
죽음교육비탄교육소설교육죽음 성찰애도죽음학김애란
