This essay is about the novel ‘The Lost Hometown’ including the other four creative writings depicting our major social issues in a reality vision. Since the industrial era between 1960s and 1970s, our society has been manipulated by the internati...
This essay is about the novel ‘The Lost Hometown’ including the other four creative writings depicting our major social issues in a reality vision. Since the industrial era between 1960s and 1970s, our society has been manipulated by the international scale capitalism originated from United States, which furthermore has caused the excessive gap between rich and poor, and destined the deeper conflicts within the social hierarchy. Corresponding these results, the novels are rewriting the social issues and the citizens whom experiencing those.
The novel ‘The Lost Hometown’ is a story based on the village, Maehyangri where currently one of the major US military bases placed. Every villagers’ strife through nearly a half century to abolish the US Air Force barracks has gone failed. The novel illustrates the progressive conflicts between the protagonist, also the main victim, Mr. Heo and his family members including other villagers. Corresponding to the story, the progressive capitalism originated from United Stages is now driving Korea to the downside.
On the other hand, ‘The Cold Weather Warning’ is about the plumber, Mr. Son employed at the large corporate who gets sacked as he is believed to be a thief at the company. The story realistically conducts the labor environment where labors work in the harsh condition with extremely low income. These issues are still ongoing with no resolve at the current stage.
The novel, ‘The Erased Shadow’ interprets the labor environment where human rights confiscated, and the man who doesn’t receive any compensation after his safety accident at the workplace. This novel well shows the reality which the labors experiencing, and where they are brutally distanced from the profit distribution even they have paid profound physical efforts into the productivity contribution.
The novel, ‘The Lasso Trap’ discusses about the conflicts against a crematorium project in one city between the politicians and villages. By the support of the old man as a leader, the protagonist, Mun-ho who sacked in the past for protesting for labors, protests once again along with the citizens standing against the project as he has further realized that it is also the politicians’ conspiracy for their own benefits. However he soon gets arrested. Basically this novel conveys the macro social egoism issue, and criticizes the politicians who are only fundamentally interested in obtaining benefits for their own than concerning of the safety for their citizens.
Another piece of the works, ‘The Net’ is about an employee who schemes to take legal action against the unethical behaviors of his workplace following his self-guilty conscience. The employee, also the protagonist of the novel, Seok-mun who does not know the specific cause of his father’s death, discovers the truth of his death over his dream at this one night. At the result, he begins his investigation against the company, and even continues the investigation penetrating a number of psychological and practical threats from the corporate on the progress to uncover the actual cause of his father’s death. The novel dramatically illustrates the high wall in our society between ones who possess and ones who don’t.
As these novels scream, our society hasn’t escaped from its relapse from the capitalism dictation born from the rapid industrial development between 1960s and 1970s. It is a undeniable truth that labor environments had been attempted to be developed for better in the era where equality and rights for labors are substantial, nevertheless numerous labors at the present are still experiencing the invisible u tair systems in their very workplaces. It is a unspeakable assessment for us to urgently carry out firm solutions to resolve these social labor issues which fabricated by the employers’dictating or us ship and the imperfect politics that only concentrated for the ones sitting on the top of the hierarchy. These novels are not excess from the novels based on the labor industry issues that written in 1970s to 1980s. Which is the major reason why the protagonists in each work aggressively spit out their says with any hesitation. Withal, the novels endeavor to remark the protagonists’ lives in simplified forms as the stories are actually based on the contemporary time, 2000s instead 1970s to 1980s.
If the conflicts and its repetition continue without any solution, the social and personal condition will become progressively damaged, and this result will passage us to the final destination where only despairs exist. The novels therefore are written to be heard as a hopeful voice to resolve all these social inequality issues which still remaining over decades.
Whether the society is constructed in capitalism or some other form, the capital has to be equally divided into the three elements, Production, Circulation and Distribution.
The structure of our society will be reached to the unrecoverable condition if the width of the gap between rich and poor increases, and the number of people who alienated from the unbalanced capital grows as well. These novels are warning indications to prevent further spread of this social disease.