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Reproduce and Distribute of Maternal Discourses - A Study on the Novel “Please Look after Mom” by Shin Kyung - sook.

  • DONAM OHMUNHAK
  • Abbr : 돈암
  • 2016, 30(), pp.73~97
  • DOI : 10.17056/donam.2016.30..73
  • Publisher : The Donam Language & Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature > Korean Literature > History of Korean Literature
  • Published : December 31, 2016

Taekho Kim 1

1명지대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

This study examines the process of how maternal discourses are reproduced and distributed in Korean society through the novel “Please Look after Mom” by Shin Kyung-sook. As widely known through more than a few studies, since the mid-19th century in Europe and the early 20th century in Korea, maternal discourses have been composed and distributed under the influence of nationalism. Most Koreans understand maternal instinct is either women’s basic instinct or nature. Thus, the attitude of a woman, who sacrifices for home and considers and acts on children’s education as the most important duty in her life, deserves compliments, or is the subject of admiration. The Korean novel “Please Look after Mom” follows such a sentiment of the general public. The format of the work not only utilizes the viewpoints of the children and husband who benefited from sacrificing Mom Park So-nyeo but also fortifies such a content of the novel. The portrayal of Mom described in “Please Look after Mom” is hard for ordinary people to put into practice. To take things that are hard to practice for given such a duty. In that regard, the admiration about Mom which “Please Look after Mom” depicts reproduces maternal discourses oppressing women. The problem is, such a novel “Please Look after Mom” is a popular work. A collective memory has settled in where maternity is taken for granted and deemed holy; people are told educational effects and moving stories on maternal love, or they felt own maternal instinct were all combined. Centering on various representations, a collective memory is usually maintained and transmitted. If there is a representation, it means there is also content. The subject that embraces the message of the representation becomes the subject of the memory, and their shared ideas become the content of the memory. A literary work, too, can often become an important representation of such a collective memory. The popularity of “Please Look after Mom” shows that the influence of a collective memory about maternity is vast. The problem is, a collective memory often buries individuals that deserve to be the subject of awareness into conventions. That is the limit of “Please Look after Mom” carrying a collective memory called maternity.

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