Yi Taejun Understanding of Tradition and Modernity - Essay Example

Critically Assess Yi T’aejun Understanding of Tradition and Modernity Introduction Over theyears, Korean writers have been described as a joke, but their works have begun to be appreciated due to their uniqueness. The Korean writers use their native language in their literature to show their love for their tradition. Most of the renowned Korean writers were active writers during the colonial period under the Japanese. They used various ways to show their discontent with the Japanese rule in Korea. Some writers used romantic literature to prove to the native Koreans on the greed of the Japanese and educated them on the need to unite and fight for their independence (TAejun, 2013). Yi T’aejun is one of the most popular Korean writers known for his exceptionally utilization of words in his literature. Most of his work is grouped under fiction literature where his ability to use words and quotes proved key in ensuring that the Japanese could not understand the meaning of his literature whereas the Koreans would fight for their rights to be free. Yi’s literature was under the colonial period and in his work, he shows his adoration of the Korean culture where he tells the Koreans that although modernization is good it is wise for the Koreans to maintain their culture and arts and fight for their independence as Japanese greed is not good for the Koreans (Lee, 2005). The main objective of this essay is to assess Yi T’aejun understanding of tradition and modernity in his work. To attain this aim it is wise to use several literature works written by Yi T’aejun during the colonial period. This will help us understand his position on tradition and modernization. Analyzing some of Yi T’aejun’s literature It is clear that most of Yi’s literature work focused on ill-fated characters who portrayed the despairing intellectuals of the colonial era, elderly people of authority or refute in the past but are now disempowered and the good hearted but foolish people who become unwitting victims of exploitation (Lee, 2009). These characters portray the changes the Koreans faced due to the Japanese colonizers. He portrays the Koreans as desperate due to the Japanese invasion and exploitation that leave the Koreans with nothing but poverty. He claims that the Japanese may bring modernity in Korea but the poverty of the natives is because of the Japanese deeds thus the Koreans are better off maintaining their traditions rather than support the Japanese for modernity purposes. One of the most popular work is the story of Paradise Lost (Chae, 1993). In this story, Yi describes a young man who seeks to live out his pastoral dream as a teacher. The young man’s dream of paradise is a simple poor village with innocent children and the people there have hearts that are not corrupted by civilization. This village’s population does not live with greed, but they bed in Korean tradition and spirit. This story portrays the need for Koreans to maintain their traditions as imitating the Japanese will only cause greed and corrupt their minds and hearts. Yi in this story states that the rural people love the teacher until a Japanese superintendent scheme to break the unity of the village formed around the teacher (Chae, 1993). The superintendent harasses the teacher until the teacher is forced to live, this portrays the rule of the Japanese that has no room for Koreans’ intellectuals and will do anything to ensure that all the Koreans are living under extreme poverty. This story shows the imperial rhetoric of the Japanese who claimed that they were turning Korea into a paradise on earth for the sake of the Koreans whereas this was a lie because the Japanese wanted to disable Koreans and make their lives difficult as possible while they exploited them for their selfish desires (Chae, 1993). The “Descendants of Adam” uses an elderly homeless man who waits for his daughter on the dock every day. The man is offered shelter by a local philanthropist where he receives food and shelter at the expense of his freedom (Lee, 2009). This place of shelter turns out to be a prison and the old man can no longer wait for his daughter in the dock and since there is no visiting time in the prison, the man is on the verge of giving up his life. This portrays the modernity offered by the Japanese at the expense of freedom of the Koreans. The Koreans cannot enjoy their lives as they did in the past and must follow all the Japanese colonizers ask of them. The old man decides to escape from the shelter since he cannot take it anymore. He deliberately takes apples off the trees that are forbidden to him just as Adam in the Bible and he is chased away from the shelter (Lee, 2009). This story portrays Japanese rule as the shelter that is providing Koreans with minimal material benefits in form of modernization, but it must be opposed since it robs the Koreans their life in the end. The fiction story “Night Road” portrays the desperate conditions of the Koreans (Lee, 2005). The character in this story is a man left by his wife nursing a baby. The wife runs since she cannot endure the poverty. The baby lacks mother’s milk and proper care, thus dies. This story ends when the man is burying his daughter on a rainy night. This story portrays the level of poverty amongst the Koreans where the necessary needs are not met. The level of poverty is very high and this is due to the greed by the Japanese who exploits the Koreans living them poor to sustain their basic needs. The death of the daughter, the rainy conditions and dark night signifies the era of despair amongst the Koreans (Lee, 2005). When the future disappears is one of the latest fiction stories by Yi, translated by Poole (2014). This book is complex in nature and it may confuse the reader on which side Yi is supporting, the modernity or the Korean tradition. Since the Japanese banned literature in the native Korean language during Korea’s colonization, Yi and other writers had to ensure that their literature work had two meanings. The outer meaning that would ensure the Japanese would think that the writer was advocating for their role to help modernization in Korea. The inner or deeper meaning aim was to unite the Koreans against the Japanese rule (Poole, 2014). These two meanings played a key role in mobilizing the Koreans without the Japanese, realizing the essence of the fiction stories. In one of the chapters, Yi claim that a Japanese tourist realized that Seoul was more modernized than Japanese cities. This statement is deemed to woe the Japanese into believing that Koreans were proud of their efforts in modernizing their city. Upon reading the statement the Japanese will find no reason to concentrate more on, the story thus they will fail to understand that the author aims at asking his fellow Koreans not to be blinded by the beauty of modernity as the aim of the Japanese is to steal their lives away (Poole, 2014). The words used in most of Yi’s stories shows that he values tradition more than modernity. He understands the need of modernization as he appreciates the efforts by the Japanese, but he claims that modernity will be realized by sacrificing one’s life is not important to the person since it does not improve his life. The modernity brought by the Japanese ensures that the Koreans sacrifice their life as they are exploited to build the city, whereas their living conditions are poor and poverty is killing them. The use of greed and corrupted hearts to describe the people who have tasted civilization portrays the hatred Yi has against the Japanese who have oppressed the Koreans and turned their humanity into animosity even against fellow Koreans. Conclusion The colonial period in Korea was just as difficult for the natives just as other third world nations that were colonized. The Japanese way of governance as illustrated in the fiction stories was oppressive and exploitative to the native Koreans. The essence that articles and stories written in Korean language were banned shows the Japanese interference with freedom of communication amongst the Koreans since their actions were not good and did not benefit the Koreans as they claimed (TAejun, 2013). The literature work by Yi and other Korean writers was essential in educating the Koreans on the need to unite and fight for their rights. Yi’s work done in Korean language has been translated to English, bases the analysis above on his popular fictional stories. In all the fictional stories above it is clear that the dream of the Koreans was to live by their tradition and have a simple life but the Japanese invasion tampered with their dreams. The respected people in Koreans society were disempowered and the Japanese took over their power without minding the efforts and the traditions of the Koreans regarding their leaders. This shows that the first step by the Japanese to have dominion over the Koreans was to ensure that they lost their culture (TAejun, 2013). The lost Korean culture would be replaced with the Japanese culture and other modernity cultures, thus prevent the Koreans from resisting the colonizers’ rule. This is the reason behind Yi calling upon the Koreans to maintain their culture and not to be tricked by the minor modernity by the Japanese, as it is their wit to deprive the Koreans their lives. Yi understands that if the Koreans, heart are corrupted with the Japanese greed, and it will be hard to unite them to fight for their freedom since the greed will lead to many Koreans collaborating with the Japanese for their selfish desires. It is clear that Yi T’aejun values modernity by it should not tamper with the traditions of the people since tradition is key in every individual’s identity. References Chae, M. (1993). Peace under heaven. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. Lee, N. (2005). Twentieth century Korean literature. Norwalk, Conn: EastBridge. Lee, P. H. (2009). A history of Korean literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Poole, J. (2014). When the future disappears: The modernist imagination in late colonial Korea. TAejun, Y. (2013). Eastern sentiments. New York: Columbia University Press. Read More