1954년 대구, 피난지 소년의 가족 로망스 - 이동하 『장난감 도시』, 김원일 『마당깊은 집』 읽기

Abstract

<The Toy City> written by Lee Dong-ha and <The Deep-grounded House> written by Kim Won-il, are set in the city of Daegu, year 1954. These two novels describe the growth of the respective main character, both young boys. In both works the boys’ condition of refugee is narrated in first person, but their stories evolve differently to show how each overcame the wounds caused by war. “The Toy City” pictures the loss of three motherly figures in a row. That is, the act of leaving ones hometown, the death of ones mother and the rape of ones sister. The protagonist boy can’t find an outlet to such feeling of loss, so he is either afflicted by depression in his shanty or abandons himself to violence on the streets. In the end the boy leaves the refugee city. In “The Deep-grounded House” the boy is a member of a family deprived of the fatherly figure. For this reason his mother imposes the father’s role on his son, and this causes conflicts between them. This kind of forced fatherhood is internalized by the protagonist, and he narrates the story of “The Deep-grounded House” from a patriarch’s standpoint. At last the boy transfers to a different school and adapts himself to the refugee society. These two narrations of growth represent the refugees’ society through family romance. Such kind of novel can be thought of as the epitome of how our society has got through the wounds of war.