고바야시 다키지의 문학에 나타난 마이너리티의 양상 ‒경계인으로서의 조선인 노동자를 중심으로‒

Abstract

This research is on Korean laborers portrayed in Takiji Kobayashi’s literary works. Korean laborers were portrayed as marginalized people not being able to be part of any groups during the colonial era when Koreans were denied, alienated, and not assimilated with the Japanese. Especially, the Japanese Empire achieved the freedom to exploit and dictate the Korean laborers through the brutal working environment. Like this, the literature clearly portrays how Korean laborers are “othered” by highlighting the difference and the Japanese Empire recognized the labor force of the forced Korean workers as exploitative objects and possessions of imperialistic forces. Takiji compares and contrast Korean and Japanese laborers in order to accentuate the process of othering toward Korean. Korean laborers are portrayed as rejected beings through the narrator. Furthermore, the duality of inclusion and exclusion, and coercion of the colonizer, and the consent of the colony is depicted through the relationship between Korean and Japanese laborers. Korean laborers as “others” was witnessed through Takiji’s literary world manifesting the reality of Korean laborers who were othered through colonial ethnic discrimination.