earticle

영어

This article investigates the heroic images embodied in ‘inn keeper’ by Juyoung Kim and ‘a sea of rape flower’ by Shiba Ryotaro, both of which described merchants as popular heroes in terms of those novel’s societies. Both novels have one thing in common, in that both chose the timeline as the end of 19th century, the turbulent period of history. While ‘inn keeper’ introduced the main character as a popular hero, citing the chaotic social structure caused by foreign forces’ obstruction of economic growth, ‘a sea of rape flower’ described the main character as a national hero by showing the scientific advances in view of practical learning along with the development of merchandise economy. In other words, whileas Cheon Bongsam in ‘inn keeper’ stayed in the Confucian culture or system, acting as a hero defying the chaotic period caused by the foreign forces, Gaheye in ‘a sea of rape flower’ rose to the status of a national hero full of merchant spirit, clearly showing Shiba’s Japanese nationalism. Both figures in those novels are heroes showing the ideal heroic images reflecting the periods of both economic development in Korea and low economic growth period in Japan thereby revealing the national characteristics.