식민지 시대 이주자의 자기 인식과 미국 -주요섭과 강용흘의 소설을 중심으로-

Abstract

This paper has investigated Korean settlers’ self awareness and the locational significance of the US during the Japanese colonial period through Yo-Seop Ju’s and Young-Hill Kang’s novels that were written based on real experiences in the US. For this, four novels (Tales Stayed in the US「留米外記」 and Seize Clouds「구름을 잡으려고」 by Yo-Seop Ju, The Grass Roof’ and East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee by Young-Hill Kang) have been reviewed. Both writers described the American society from a perspective of the Korean settlers in the US and brought out dilemmas and problems that they have faced in reality. This kind of in-depth description was possible because the writers actually lived in the US. Therefore, this paper has thoroughly analyzed the relation between Korean settlers and the US. In particular, how Korean settlers’ identity has been formed was examined by analyzing the correlation between each settler’s locational awareness and the US. In Yo-Seop Ju’s novel, an immigrant laborer is the main character. For him, the US was a land of opportunity in which he could make his dream come true. In reality, however, the US was a land of misery with no hope in which poor settlers were exploited and brutally treated. According to Young-Hill Kang’s novel, on the other hand, the main character Cheong-Pa Han went to the US with a dream to continue his study. In the US, however, he became unstable and confused about ambivalent and non-ambivalent consciousness between the East and the West. In other words, the said novels vividly describe a true reality of the US(the West). In the novels, the US requests multi-layered self awareness from the main characters in terms of national, racial, and hierarchical aspects. This paper has examined how the Korean settlers in the US have formed their identity under each category. As a result, this paper has figured out what the US meant to Korean settlers in the US during the Japanese colonial period in perspective of reality.