Earticle

초록

영어

"The Artificial Nigger" is a story of a pedagogical journey, during which a grandfather plans to teach his grandson the lesson of wisdom and humility. The lesson may be summed up as following: "You ain't as smart as you think you are." The two main characters whose name happens to be Head, reflecting their over-blown head, undergo most excruciating ordeals during the one-day excursion into the city. The purpose of this essay is to determine the outcome of the two Heads' pedagogical journey and to answer the question: what after all have the Heads learned at the end of the journey?My answer is that the pedagogical journey is a total failure. "A character's changing," which O'Connor considered the essential for "all good stories," does not happen here, even though it does not mean that the story is not a good one. All three encounters of the Heads with the Negro do not change their smug self-pride and superior attitude toward the other race. As Mr. Head willfully shuts his eye that has seen his own abject self reflected in the miserably chipped figure of the Artificial Nigger, he denies his common bond with the fallen and suffering humanity. As the journey comes to a full circle, the moon is "restored, to its full splendor." The homecoming of the two Heads is a return to the inviolate sanctuary of self-deception aided by the "dignifying" lunar magic. The story concludes with the younger Head as a voluntary prisoner in his grandfather's narcissistic and reclusive world and the elder Head at all-time high of his pride. The two are reunited with each other in ignorance of their true selves and "true depravity." The pedagogical journey taught them nothing.

키워드

저자

• Insoon Choi

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  미국소설 [마크 트웨인 리뷰]

• 간기

  연3회

• pISSN

  1738-5784

• 수록기간

  1991~2020

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 843 DDC 813