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영어

This study aims to find out the protagonist, Dubin’s moral growth from the perspective of transcendental consciousness. It can be assumed that Malamud’s hero has the potentiality to overcome negative conditions through suffering. The very nature of transcendentalism is the positive assumption of the human innate goodness that makes up the central idea of Malamud. When the novel begins, after 25 years of boring married life, Dubin wants to “live” his own life. Dubin is alienated from his friends, even his own family. He has an illicit affair with Fanny in order to find a new life. As a biographer, he is absorbed in a biography of Lawrence. He doesn’t understand other people, including his own family. He suffers a lot of hardship because of the lack of self-containment and self-knowledge. It is important to have assimilation with nature from the transcendental view. While lost in the blizzard, Dubin follows a white owl and it takes him to the open. The protective coloration of the owl suggests that Dubin must put himself back in harmony with nature. At the end of the novel, he grows to be considerate of others, especially of his wife Kitty, and recovers his relationship with his daughter Maud. He gives Fanny advice on how to lead a decent life. Dubin’s transcendental awareness through restoration of relationship can be found in his developed ways of life.