소년화자 서사에 나타난 음식의문학적 재현과 의미 －『마당 깊은 집』, 『장난감 도시』, 『고기잡이는 갈대를 꺾지 않는다』를 중심으로－

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the meanings of growth among boy protagonists that suffered the severe pain of mental and material deficiency right after the end of the Korean War through the literary reproduction of “food” in The House with a Sunken Courtyard, A Toy City, and A Fisherman Does not Snap the Reed. These three works show the ways that the growth of a boy is embodied by depicting the way of the world or the disharmony of life through a boy narrator. Here, “food” is the object that governs the consciousness of boys, specifying their daily life in poverty and thus becoming a symbol of the achievement and frustration of their dreams and hopes. In The House with a Sunken Courtyard, the main character “I” or Gil-nam is taught to have a sense of responsibility as the eldest son under her mother with a tough life attitude. Life at the “house with a sunken courtyard” reminds him of the days of starving. All the episodes that put him through the biggest hardship have something to do with food. In episodes where he steals food from the landlord’s place, watches a strong young man having a meal, and watches a Christmas party(food), “food” is a straightforward expression of his bodily hunger and element to awake him to the reverent nature of “meals” after labor. A Toy City describes the maladjustment of “my”(Yun’s) family in a shantytown with its inferior living environment exposed as it is after they are cast away from their hometown. “My” family gradually faces their deconstruction in a shantytown. Foods that are far from normal objects of food intakes become media to make the loss of the hometown, deconstruction of family, and lack of affection concrete to the main character “I”. In “my” unconsciousness, I realize that the fundamental love of his hometown and the love of his family will never be possible again through food. A Fisherman Does not Snap the Reed is set in a marketplace of a small town in the country. The work mainly tells the stories of poor brothers suffering hunger under a single mother. The space of a marketplace turns “my” disposition into that of an investigator. In this novel, the food culture has something to do with a marketplace. One good example is “hard-boiled rice” at a brewery. “I” and my brother discover the world of adults through their yearning for the “strength” of a brewery worker named Jang Seok-do and the meanings of “maze and propagation” via the mirror at the barber shop. The jars full of rice and grain in the attic are, in particular, new experiences for the brothers to escape from the world of deficiency. In these three works, food is the basis of life maintenance and, at the same time, literary material to reveal the meanings of human life. The House with a Sunken Courtyard shows ties between a boy trained to serve as the eldest son through food and his family. A Toy City depicts the sorrow of a boy experiencing the loss of hometown and the deconstruction of family through food. Finally, food shows the growth of a boy realizing the way of the world in A Fisherman Does not Snap the Reed.