KJCKorea
Journal Central

The purpose of this article is to examine how the reflective questions of posthumanism, which dream of a new image of humanity and new relationships between living things on Earth, are embodied in tales. Specifically, by examining the otherness of the toad and the toad bride that appear in <The Tale of the Toad Groom>, I attempted to reflect on what human attitudes should be toward strangers. The toad in the story is an ambivalent being who cannot be incorporated into human society, but is depicted as a being that has no will to be incorporated and rather seeks to preserve its own identity. In the end, the toad, which reveals itself as a celestial being and returns to the sky, depicts the image of a stranger who will never be reconciled. The woman who accepts this toad as her groom takes off its skin and wanders around looking for the missing toad. Toad bride voluntarily leaves the society he belongs to, is deprived of his membership rights, and faces the logic of 'give and take'. Despite this situation, toad bride faithfully walks toward her goal of reuniting with the toad because already she accepts the toad groom as a specific and individual being. This article revealed The toad's heavenly qualities and outstanding appearance in the narrative world represents that in human society where attention is paid to the abstract value of 'humanity', visible interaction, and agreed upon communication patterns rather than essence of hunam individual. In addition, in this paper found on through the attitudes of the toad bride who provides absolute hospitality to others, we were able to recall the critical awareness of posthumanism, which seeks to reestablish the relationship between beings on earth.

toad groom, toad bride, posthuman, relationship, personality, absolute hospitality