『화산도(火山島)』의 중심의식으로 작용하는 이방근의 자유사상

Abstract

Kim Suk-bum’s “Hwasando” is a descriptive long story that centers around the “Jeju 4-3 Incident”, where the political situation is a clash of ideologies, pro-Japanese and Northwest groups move for control, and Jeju-island’s guerilla actions are confronted by those of the police and its punitive forces. This story was made on Jeju-island’s indigenous sentiment and its variable culture, which is shown through the main character “Lee Bang-keun”. Lee Bang-keun’s liberal ideals are one of the core philosophies that run through the entire epic. Before 1945, he was engaged in the independence movement and was eager in seeking Korea’s freedom. After Korea’s liberation in 1945, though, he seemed to pursue his individual freedom by immersing in his study room, appearing severed from the world. However, he was to commit suicide after murdering pro-Japanese Jung Se-yong, who had spoiled the “Jeju 4-28 Peace Agreement”, compromising his conviction that “A free man will never kill another being, and would take his own instead”. Lee Bang-keun’s suicide shows that no one can be fully free from a society they belong to, no matter how much they pursue it. Desiring freedom from a society signifies their own attribution to it, and true freedom can only come when the society surrounding them allows it. Turning away from societies problems appears to have been viewed as ‘cowardly’, which led to Lee’s suicide. Consequently, Lee Bang-keun’s belief of freedom penetrates his story with the awareness that ousting pro-Japanese groups and rejecting foreign influence is needed to Jeju island’s true liberation. Also, while Lee quotes doubt in the doctrinairism of Communist cultures, he questions the justice of Capitalism, where the rich is allowed to suppress the poor and how freedom earned with their labor could be considered to be true. ‘Hwasando’ revolves around the ‘Jeju 4-3 Incident’, but its main theme and ideals are set in the universal values of mankinds freedom.