로맹 가리의 인종차별 인식 -『흰 개』를 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how Romain Gary perceived the issue of racism in the United States in the 1960s through his work, White Dog. This thesis focuses on the social conflict that was prevalent during the residence of Romain Gary and his second wife, Jean Seberg, in the United States. Via Bartka, a ‘gray dog’ that accidentally appeared in front of Romain Gary’s house, we looked at how Romain Gary was satirizing racism that was prevalent in American society in the 1960s, and furthermore, why Romain Gary was interested in racism. I approached him based on his status and racial identity. Romain Gary’s point of view that the cause of racial conflict is ultimately just human discriminatory behavior is confirmed by seeing a ‘white dog’ trained to attack only black people meet a black trainer and now become a ‘black dog’ that only attacks white people. Batka, which appears in The White Dog, is a medium that symbolizes the age-old racial conflict in American society. The dog, a victim of human greed, desire and fanatical hatred, points out the wrong behavior of humans who live as if only a binary world exists. In particular, as Romain Gary had experienced discrimination since childhood because he was a Russian immigrant of Jewish origin, these social conflicts and confusion were enough to draw his attention. Based on the results of this study, we had an opportunity to once again confirm the various colors of Romain Gary’s literary world.