“Adulting” in the Korean full-length classical novels based on “Becoming an adult of a prodigal son”: Focusing on Lee Mong-chang in the series of Ssangcheon Gi-bong

This paper examines the process of becoming an adult and the meaning of becoming an adult, focusing on Lee Mong-chang's series of Korean long novel “Ssangcheon Gi-bong”. The narrative that Lee Mong-chang controls his natural debauchery and becomes the head of the family is also the process of becoming an adult who controls his temperament and fulfills his social responsibilities. In the series of “Ssangcheon Gi-bong”, Lee Mong-chang's ‘adulting’ can be divided into three main categories. First of all, the process of becoming the head of the family includes establishing judgment criteria and learning social roles. Lee Mong-chang avoided responsibility for all cases without imagining the consequences of his actions at first, but from the disappearance of So Wol-hye, he faces the consequences of what he has done and establishes the criteria for judgment. In the belated marriage with Jo Sang-yeom, he agonizes over the social hierarchy surrounding the family and the attitude he must take. Through the growth of the two aspects, Lee Mong-chang escapes from the prodigy and secures the quality of being the head of the family. It should be noted that Lee Mong-chang's ‘becoming an adult’ is not completed by becoming the head of the family. In the latter part, “The Book of Generation Lee”, Lee Mong-chang seems to be the completed head of the family, but when dealing with his son Lee Baek-moon, he shows an immature and impulsive side. When dealing with a prodigy son who looks exactly like him, he is conscious of the past and obsessed with the role of the head of the family. Lee Mong-chang's change in the narrative of ‘being the head of the household’ is due to the accumulation of experiences and on the other hand, it is meaningful in that it reconsiders the perspective of the completed adult. The accumulation of experience in the social relationships surrounding me serves as the basis for controlling my natural temperament and playing a social role. Of course, these experiences leave room for criticism in that they can be seen as ‘planning’ for growth from Lee Mong-chang's perspective, but in other words, they also show how much relationship is involved in the process of adulthood. Furthermore, these experiences continue even after adulthood, and have great implications in that they create a changing adult rather than a completed adult. In other words, becoming an adult means more than just ‘getting older’ and can be said to be a process of continuing to pursue completion while incomplete.