『요나의 박 넝쿨』에 나타난 가부장적 위계질서 허물기

최순근 ( Sun Geun Choi ) 근대 영미소설 학회 2010 근대 영미소설 Vol.17 No.1

전형적인 남성적 글쓰기로서의 『토박이』 읽기

최순근 ( Sun Geun Choi ) 한국근대영미소설학회 2011 근대 영미소설 Vol.18 No.1

This thesis analyzes signs of the author`s negative attitude toward women, by examining the main characters` identities and limitations in Richard Wright`s Native Son, one of the most famous novels of social protest, created a tidal wave of acclaim and made an indelible mark in the history of American literature. Against immense odds, Wright became America`s first best-selling black author, and his works have influenced generations of African-American writers and readers of all races. On one level, the character of Bigger Thomas can be interpreted, as he often has been, as a tragic or heroic figure who resists against white racism and achieves his self-consciousness. On another level, however, Bigger is a monster, a killer of two innocent women. He is alienated from his family, his gang, and the larger black and white community. Although Jan and Max are important to Bigger and his acquiring of identity by nourishing his social self, they do not solve his problems, nor do they have the power to change American society. As the title states, Native Son is the story of a black man, not a black woman. Bigger Thomas, economically, psychologically, and socially emasculated, unleashes his rage against female characters. Through Bigger, Richard Wright struggles to appropriate and thus dehumanize women by reducing them to pawns in the midst of male status conflict. Therefore women as characters in Native Son, are mere objects of this appropriation; they are desired as objects, but at the same time, contemptible in their weakness and passivity. Religion, alcohol, and sex are black women`s reactive activities which are characteristics of their personalities. They are all content to nag rather than nurture, and they are effectively silenced by Bigger and the author. Paradoxically, the final attempts of the text to cover the repressed phallocentricity and to achieve some sort of rapprochement between Bigger and the white male society that oppresses him are somewhat strange against this backdrop of violence against women. It is now time to uncover and examine the author`s prejudices about women and to scrutinize the previously concealed misogyny in this pivotal work of American literature, shaped by the absent Other.

『수와니 강의 천사』: 어머니 되기를 통한 수동적 여성성 해체

최순근 ( Sun Geun Choi ) 한국아메리카학회 2010 美國學論集 Vol.42 No.3

This paper analyzes Seraph on the Suwanee, one of Zora Neale Hurston`s later novels, focusing on systematic problems in the white male-dominated society, as well as on the aspects of deconstructing male(husband) authority. Recently, the works of Huston have been rediscovered and reevaluated by new methods of literary assessment, and the attention of black women writers. Even though Their Eyes Were Watching God, the most famous of Hurson`s novels, has drawn many people and critics` attention after years of partial and unfair critical appreciation, most scholars and critics have not paid much attention to Seraph on the Suwanee. This is due to the fact that the main male and female characters of this novel are all white, and that there is no unique ``blackness`` in this novel. Published in 1948, Seraph on the Suwanee is the story of Arvay Henson`s faltering efforts to reject not only her husband Jim`s physical and mental oppression, but also more importantly, the ``ideal wife discourse`` in the 1940s. On the surface, the love between Arvay and Jim looks romantic and passionate, but their married life reveals the negative and undesirable aspects of male-female relationships in a male-centered patriarchal society. In spite of being described as an attractive and powerful figure in the beginning of the novel, Jim slowly loses his power over Arvay and finally becomes a ``baby`` as the story progresses. All the while, Arvay realizes her own personal virtues and restores confidence and conviction in the relationship with Jim, and decides to become Jim`s mother at last. Because Hurston`s discourse in this novel is distorted by a complex ambivalence and awkward expressions, critics have been discomfited and bewildered, and they have excluded the novel from the canonical track. Arvay`s persistent attempts to preserve her integrity through resistance are motivated by a tenacious belief in her own intrinsic worth and in her rights to individual freedom and social respect. The development of her essential identity is slowly realized, but in the end, she finds freedom, meaning, a sense of community, and the potential for continued growth in her discovery of an active, inclusive, and unconditional love. Arvay`s final assertion of feminine authority and maternal power is the result of a continuous quest for identity as a woman. Moreover, Hurston implicitly but powerfully criticizes the patriarchal system in America by making Jim a baby, and making Arvay his mother. Hurston challenges contemporary stereotypes of wives as ``angels in the house.`` Through the figure of Jim, who has energetic male sexuality, but finally acts like a baby protected by his wife, Hurston raises a fundamental question about what an ideal relationship between husband and wife should be. She also warns American patriarchal culture that it might be totally destroyed if oppression of male/husband on female/wife continues, propagating the concept that marriage between equals does not work.

동물 우화와 여성의 말하기: 『그들의 눈은 신을 보고 있었다』의 6장을 중심으로

최순근 ( Sun Geun Choi ) 미국소설학회(구 한국호손학회) 2011 미국소설 Vol.18 No.1

This paper analyzes Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston`s most famous novel, focusing on the process of Janie`s obtaining the power to speak out, by using ``oral tradition`` and ``speaking animals`` prevalent in Afro-American culture. As black women writers have attracted public attention, and methods of literary assessment have changed and varied, the works of Hurston have been reevaluated by recent authors and critics, after years of unfair critical evaluation. Published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God has been misunderstood by a patriarchal and racist literary culture. Thus, it has been the center of both acclaim and criticism, because it is a novel about a black woman who has the ability to speak out in a white, male-dominated society. Unlike other contemporary black writers, Hurston shoved an ongoing interest in black folklore throughout her life, and her fascination with it was central to the main female character, Janie`s acquisition of the speaking ability. Most critics have thought that Hurston was ``sloppy`` to use Afro-American folk tales in this novel, thus they have disregarded Chapter 6, which is the most important section in Janie`s acquiring speaking ability. Despite Hurston`s portraying the seemingly primitive black life in the text, hover, Hurston subverts the surface text by using Afro-American folk tales and oral tradition. After Janie became familiar with the oral tradition of the black people, she gained the ability to use proper words in certain situations and the ability to thereby protest male chauvinism, as well as the boldness to criticize Jody, her second husband. In addition, Hurston used talking buzzards, very famous and frequently spoken in black folklore, as a means of signifying male authority. These features of Their Eyes Were Watching God subvert the widespread social belief of female weakness and so-called ``Primitive`` black culture, and allow Janie to achieve her confident voice as a woman at the same time. Zora Neale Hurston created a powerful female character, who can express her feelings and thoughts ``by speaking``, and point out men`s misunderstandings about women through her voice acquired by Afro-American folk tales and oral tradition.

『프레더릭 더글러스의 인생이야기』: 흑인 영웅의 탄생

최순근 ( Sun Geun Choi ) 미국소설학회(구 한국호손학회) 2014 미국소설 Vol.21 No.1

This paper analyzes Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, Frederick Douglass`s most famous work, focusing on the process of Douglass`s performing the role as an African-American heroic leader. As black writers have attracted public interest and attention, and various methods of literary assessment have developed, the works of African-American writers, including Douglass, have been reevaluated by recent authors and critics, after years of unfair critical appreciation. After published in 1845, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself has been read and understood as a story which criticizes the dominant slavery and its extreme inhumanness, as well as vindicates the right and freedom of African-Americans in the patriarchal and racist United States. In this autobiography, the author and main character Douglass took the starring role in the slave community, mastered how to read and write after recognizing the importance of literacy in order to be free from the slavery, and finally wrote his own story by himself, in spite of his unbearable circumstances in the 19th century. In one aspect, Douglass who takes the lead role of this self-made success story can be seen as a successful rebel against white racism and authority. In another aspect, however, Douglass alienates himself from his mother and colleagues of the black community, and deserts his name which was given from his dead mother so as to get a new one from the white man. Moreover, in this text, he paid no attention to his wife, Anna Murray, who played a key role for him to be free and famous as a writer and women`s rights activist, nor did he have affection or sympathy for female slaves whipped by their masters in public. Most critics have thought that Frederick Douglass in this autobiography was a self-made man alone against all odds, but with the help of his writing skills, Douglass tried hard to represent himself as an extremely special being, that is, an African-American heroic figure, who wants to have the consciousness of privileged white men, as well as the undercover desire to become a member of the white-male dominating society.