「정글」과 「난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공」 비교 -사회개혁과 소설의 힘

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare Upton Sincalir’s The Jungle, the representative novel of exposure literature from the beginning of 20th century in the U.S.A and Cho Se-hee’s A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball (hereafter A Dwarf), one of the most influential novels of the 1970s in South Korea. Although these two novels are very different in their settings, there are many shared themes: in struggles for social reform, in revealing the evil of capitalism through the tragedy of heroes, in focusing on the gap between the rich and the poor, and in regard to the hardships of women and children in the working class. In The Jungle, Jurgis, an optimistic Lithuanian immigrant with the American Dream, struggled to survive in Chicago's “Packingtown,” but failed. After he loses everything such as his house, job, and family in the capitalist jungle, he finally throws himself into socialism. Sinclair seeks to prove that all who come into contact with the ruthlessness and competitiveness of capitalism are corrupted by it and he suggests socialism as an alternative. Many characters serve as a mouthpiece for the author. On the other hand, the industrial area of Eun Gang in A Dwarf has terrible working conditions like “Packingtown,” but in this novel, neither suggested solutions like socialism nor direct spokesmen exist. Various narrators from different social classes confess their dilemma and unrest. These polyphonic voices describe the unchanging gap between the different classes in the tyrannical, early industrial Korea in the 1970s. Through the comparison of these novels, we can clearly realize the suffering of the poor continues in other places but at different times: as long as the injustice and the inequality exist, these two novels will continue to serve as an alarm to awake readers’ hearts and responsibility.