한국중앙영어영문학회

This paper aims to explore the correlation between the pursuit of ideal father figures and one’s identity in The Odyssey, The Henriad, and Native Speaker. Specifically, it focuses on the recurrent representation of the relationship through the narrative structures commonly found in these literary works. The narrative structure consists of two contrasting journeys Telemachus and Oedipus take, respectively. They seem diagonally opposite within Homer’s epic, but the trajectories of their lives reflect the causal nexus between father figure and ego. Whether though pursuing or avoiding their fathers, they endeavor to overcome their identity crisis, which again reflects the connection mentioned above. Likewise, isolated from his father, Prince Hal regards Falstaff as an alternative father figure. Yet he ultimately sacrifices him in order to forge his identity as King Henry V ― an act that parallels the patricidal fate Oedipus tries to avoid. Henry Park finds an ideal father alternative in John Kwang after his father’s death, but he inevitably takes part in undermining his political career, a symbolic murder of his father figure. Repeatedly used in literary works, therefore, the theme and narrative structure signify the efficacy of them as a literary tradition.