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Post-colonial fiction in Korea

Post-colonial fiction is characterized by its authors' experiences as witnesses to occupation by foreign powers. Sahar Khalifeh's Wild Thorns and Richard E. Kim's Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood both capture the devastating impact of the political and socioeconomic oppression of the foreign and colonial occupation on their homelands. Both authors lived through the events they wrote about -- the cultivation of the economic dependence of the Palestinian people on Israel (Khalifeh 21), the elimination of the studies of Korean from schools (Kim 117), along with the brutal oppression of dissident activities. In both cases, the Israeli and Japanese occupiers had sought to stifle the Palestinians' and Koreans' efforts to assert their nationalist identities and aspirations (Khalifeh 73; Kim 6). The focus of this paper is to examine the diverse effects of the oppressive methods depicted in the two novels.

The oppression of the colonial forces had different effects on individual characters in both novels. Their responses occupied a wide spectrum. For example, Usama decided to reclaim his homeland by becoming a terrorist (Khalifeh 5). Yet it is important to note that Usman also experienced a conflict of emotions in his extremist decision, which were illuminated before his death. Even as he attempted to justify his terrorist acts by asserting that he was a "martyr to the cause," Usama still clung to images of survival and domestic bliss: "[his mother]. The oven fire. The smell of burning dung. Wedding celebrationsà" (Khalifeh 185).

On the other extreme end of the spectrum, some of the Palestinian people had succumbed to their economic dependence on Israel by substituting their nationalist principles with material acquisitions. Shahada exemplified one of the Palestinians who had abandoned his distinctive identity as a Palestinian in his rampant pursuit of wealth. In this scene, Shahada flaunted his wealth by show...

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Post-colonial fiction in Korea. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:35, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687785.html