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Psychopath, the monster of modern society and the maternal myth -Goodnight, Mom by Seo Mi-Ae and I’m sorry, Mama by Kirino Natsuo-

  • 日本硏究
  • 2015, (39), pp.199-216
  • Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Published : August 20, 2015

YU, Jae-jin 1

1고려대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Psychopath, the monster of modern society and the maternal myth -Goodnight, Mom by Seo Mi-Ae and I’m sorry, Mama by Kirino Natsuo- In today’s detective mystery novels, criminals do not commit murder for vengeance or money. Rather, they are too egotistical and therefore unable to feel empathy with other people. This state causes them to continuously and guiltlessly commit murder in order to fulfill their distorted desires or to gain relief. These serial killers are better known as psychopaths. This study deals with two detective mystery novels, Goodnight, Mom published in 2010 by Mi-ae Seo and I’m Sorry, Mama in 2004 by Kirino Natsuo. Both are stories that feature female serial killers. The ways in which the mothers assert motherhood to be a myth and choose to escape from the restraint of motherhood only leads to the result that their children grow up to be serial killers. The choices they had made are deemed negative. That is, the two novels are paradoxically demanding motherhood by linking the personality development of serial killers with that to “mothers”. In such a way, the thought that society needs to intervene in child care from I’m Sorry, Mama is not shown in Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Mom only distinguishes the good mother as absolutely good and the bad mother as absolutely bad. This signifies that this novel fails to escape from the predominant idea in Korean society that sanctifies and enforces motherhood.

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