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The removal theory embodied in Sorrows of Youth and Mourning the passing
Chunwon Research journal
Abbr :
Chunwon Research journal
2018, (12), pp.147-174
Publisher : Chunwon Research Society
Research Area : Korean Literature
2018, (12), pp.147-174
Publisher : Chunwon Research Society
Research Area : Korean Literature
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During the early period of the 20th century, many intellectuals in Korea and China carried out different kinds of reformations in the fields of education in order to get rid of colonial domination. Kwangsoo Lee and Lu Xun are the important representative personages of them. The two authors think that culture is the reflection of the society and they introspected the problems that women had faced through their works. Their works describe women's lives in the transitional period and pretend the equality between men and women. Kwangsoo Lee and Lu Xun are the headmost authors that focus on women's lives. The sorrows of youth written by Kwangsoo Lee and Mourning the Passing written by Lu Xun take love and marriage as materials to describe the contradiction of young intellectuals between free love and following parents' wishes. The men and women leading characters changed their lives and ideology through removal. This is the common ground of these two novels’. Therefore, through separated descriptions, this article expounds the theme. This article describes the failure of women’s removal and consciousness of enlightenment and the fight for equality of male intellectuals. First, the two women leading characters in The sorrows of youth and Mourning the Passing are both the new women that living in the transitional period from feudal society to modern society and accepting new education. The comparison between the two novels is significant. This article describes how the two women leading characters would do when they face the traditional feudalistic thinking and what kind of impact is generated on them. This article explores how would the two women leading character’s ideology and lives affected by removal and their tragic destiny. Second, the two men leading characters in The sorrows of youth and Mourning the Passing are both intellectuals that living in the transitional period and they discovered the issue of women's rights and enlighten women. From this point, the comparison and analyzing between the two novels is meaningful. This article narrates the perspective of the two men leading characters regard women’s rights and what to do to enlighten women. This article also explores the background when the two authors wrote these two novels. While studying in Japan, Kwangsoo Lee was affected by new women and helped give him new perspective on women's rights. He negated the gender inequality of feudal patriarchal domination and realized the necessity of women's enlightenment. Therefore, he wrote The sorrows of youth and Ruthless. Affected by the New Culture Movement occurred during the May Fourth Period, Lu Xun started to turn his attention to women’s rights. Through the New Culture Movement, Lu Xun reviewed human rights and women rights and wrote My Views on Chastity. Finally, this article organize the above contents and comes to a conclusion.
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