이 글의 목적은「동동」화자의 심리를 방어기제(defense mechanism)를 통해 이해 하여 전편을 통석하는 데 있다. 자아가 자기에게 부딪쳐오는 모든 요소를 통합하고 대처하 기에 너무 열악할 때 이를 보호하는 장치가 방어기제인데「동동」의 5월ㆍ7월ㆍ11월ㆍ12월 에서 이러한 것을 발견할 수 있다. 5월 화자의 기행은 님의 부재를 인정하지 않으려는 부정 (denial) 기제에 해당한다. 7월 망혼일에 ‘百種 排 □’여 놓은 상(床)은 재회를 희구하는 대체 (substitution) 기제와 관련돼 있었다. ‘百種 排’한 망혼일의 상(床)이 자기의 바람을 기원하 는 상(床)과 유사할 뿐 아니라 과거에 만났던 ‘녹사’와 마주앉았던 상(床)을 연상시켰기 때문인데 이는 12월 님의 앞에 있던 盤(床)과 밀접했다. 11월 봉당에서 속옷을 덮고 누워 있는 화자의 모습은 의식화(ritual) 기제에 해당하는 취침의례의 한 사례였다. 성적 소망을 근간으로 취침의례가 행해진다 할 때 화자의 소망이 좌절된 상황을 12월에서 확인할 수 있었다. 12월은 盤(床) 위에 있는 ‘芳香’의 젓가락을 님이 아니라 손[客]이 잡았다는 진술인 듯하지만 盤(床)과 젓가락이 각각 침상과 화자로 대체(substitution)된 것이었다. 결국 12월의 상황이 화자에게 방어기제를 작동하게 한 ‘결코 잊지 못할 체험’이었다.

In this article, it will be attempted to understand and comprehend the psychological state of the “DongDong”’s narrator, by applying the concept of ‘Defense mechanism’ to the task of analyzing the situation involving the narrator. The so-called ‘Defense mechanism’ refers to a device, which would protect and shield the narrator’s ‘self’ from all the incoming(intruding) variables, as the narrator itself would be, usually, hardly in a position to adequately respond to such disruptive contacts. Such defensive devices can be found inside the February, March, May, July, November and December sections. Especially the odd behaviour displayed by the narrator in the May section almost implies the attitude of ‘denial’: the narrator’s refusal to admit the absence of ‘Nim(the lover)’. In that regard, the ‘Nim(lover)’ described in the February and March sections should not be read as a figure positioned in a ritual context, but instead read as a display of a revised memory owned by the narrator. In the meantime, in the July section seems there seems to be a relationship of ‘substitution’ between a ‘table’(with things placed upon it on the day of ‘departed soul’), and the ‘hope for reunion’. This is because such ‘table’ arranged on the ‘departed soul’ day, with all the Baekjong(百種) placed(排) upon it, indeed show a look distinctively similar to that of the table which symbolized the narrator’s very own hope, and also because it actually quite much resembled the table where the narrator had earlier sat with a ‘Noksa(錄事)’ figure in the past. This table figure is closely related to another plate(table) / 盤(床) which was put in front of the ‘Nim(lover)’, as described in the December section. The narrator lying under its own underwear inside the Bongdang chamber can be considered as conducting a form of ‘sleeping ritual’, which falls into the category of ‘ritualization’. Such sleeping ritual is believed to have been held with sexual expectations in mind, and we can see such hope was eventually turned down in the December section. From that section, we can presume that it was not ‘Nim’ but the ‘guest’ who grabbed the aroma(‘芳香’) chopstick, which had previously been placed upon the plate(table), but actually the ‘plate(table)’ and the ‘chopstick’ seem to be substitutions for the bed and the narrator. This must have been the ‘unforgettable experience’ that forced the narrator to rely upon ‘defensive mechanisms’.

In this article, it will be attempted to understand and comprehend the psychological state of the “DongDong”’s narrator, by applying the concept of ‘Defense mechanism’ to the task of analyzing the situation involving the narrator. The so-called ‘Defense mechanism’ refers to a device, which would protect and shield the narrator’s ‘self’ from all the incoming(intruding) variables, as the narrator itself would be, usually, hardly in a position to adequately respond to such disruptive contacts. Such defensive devices can be found inside the February, March, May, July, November and December sections. Especially the odd behaviour displayed by the narrator in the May section almost implies the attitude of ‘denial’: the narrator’s refusal to admit the absence of ‘Nim(the lover)’. In that regard, the ‘Nim(lover)’ described in the February and March sections should not be read as a figure positioned in a ritual context, but instead read as a display of a revised memory owned by the narrator. In the meantime, in the July section seems there seems to be a relationship of ‘substitution’ between a ‘table’(with things placed upon it on the day of ‘departed soul’), and the ‘hope for reunion’. This is because such ‘table’ arranged on the ‘departed soul’ day, with all the Baekjong(百種) placed(排) upon it, indeed show a look distinctively similar to that of the table which symbolized the narrator’s very own hope, and also because it actually quite much resembled the table where the narrator had earlier sat with a ‘Noksa(錄事)’ figure in the past. This table figure is closely related to another plate(table) / 盤(床) which was put in front of the ‘Nim(lover)’, as described in the December section. The narrator lying under its own underwear inside the Bongdang chamber can be considered as conducting a form of ‘sleeping ritual’, which falls into the category of ‘ritualization’. Such sleeping ritual is believed to have been held with sexual expectations in mind, and we can see such hope was eventually turned down in the December section. From that section, we can presume that it was not ‘Nim’ but the ‘guest’ who grabbed the aroma(‘芳香’) chopstick, which had previously been placed upon the plate(table), but actually the ‘plate(table)’ and the ‘chopstick’ seem to be substitutions for the bed and the narrator. This must have been the ‘unforgettable experience’ that forced the narrator to rely upon ‘defensive mechanisms’.

defense mechanism, denial, substitution, ritualization, DongDong, unforgettable experience