Study On The "Family Evolution" Of Piao’s Novel Series Mom’s Timber Piles

Piao Wanxu is a contemporary famous female realism author from the Republic of Korea.Her novel emphasizes on the Korean War, separation of the Korean nationality, and a series of social issues such as the booming of material desire, women’s liberation, lives of the old, which were brought forth by industrialization. A variety of her works centers on the theme of "family" to vividly demonstrate the live and marginalization of an individual in the process of the War and industrialization. Under this context, the author expresses in detail the inner and complicated contradictions of the individual.Through a study on the "family evolution" of Piao’s novel series Mom’s Timber Piles, this essay analyzes in depth the existence and ruined condition of the families in the post-modern period of the Republic of Korea, analyzes the method and significance for family restoration, and further for the literature value and significance of Piao’s novels.To prove the above viewpoints, this essay tries adopting and combining the methods of social historical criticism, structuralism criticism, and thematology criticism with the aim of studying the "family evolution "in Piao’s novels. Family is the basic unit of human society. Therefore, studying the "family evolution" of Piao’s novel gains significance on the level of literature reflection theory and aids us in deepening the understanding of the existence form of literature itself."Family evolution "in Paio’s novel series Mom’s Tiber Piles can be summed up as the following:First, the novel Mom’s Timber Piles1describes the families formed through the disorganization of the traditional feudal families during the period of pre-modern times to modern times. In the new evolution of families, the father passes away early, thus forming a mother-centered family, with the mother being the sole breadwinner and the son being the head of the family. The son symbolizes the mom’s belief, hope, and order of the family. The whole left their native place and moved to the city Seoul. During this process, the mom tried her utmost to transform the daughter into a "new kind of woman", but the daughter desires freedom without restriction and control. The mom, living at the suburb of the city, intends for her daughter to enter the mainstream school in the city. However, the daughter feels she does not belong in the city and cannot really merge into the marginalized live. This uncertainty of social identity, and confusion from inside lead to contradiction and opposition in the mother-daughter relationship. In the end, the family pattern is harmonious and satisfactory, with the adult daughter understanding and tolerating the mother.Second, the novel Mom’s Timber Piles depicts the ruin to the family by the son, head of the family, resulting from the War. Mom and daughter are unable to face the loss of family member and conceal the death of the son by intentionally avoiding memory. In an accident30years later, Mom’s femur thighbone is broken and so she is sent to the hospital. Under the effect of anesthetics, the Mom, in her eighties, unconsciously remembers the scene that her son was shot to death, falling down. Facing the loss of tragic their beloved family member, the mom and daughter choose to understand and forgive each other. Mom left her will to the daughter, to spread her own cremains into the same place, in order to follow his son back to the native place which she earnestly long for, just as the son’s cremains having been spread into the Lin Jin Jiang River in Jiang Hua Island, from where it will see the native place of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. By this, we can come to the conclusion that the War not only ruins and family, but also the Korean nationality as a whole.Third, the novel Mom’s Timber Piles3describes the grandma-grandson relationship and mom-daughter relationship. After the death of the mother, her will was never actualized, which seeming is the result of mother-daughter conflict. Actually, the grandson, a modern individual seeking fame and gain, intends for a proper funeral, with the cremains of his grandma buried in the public graveyard for him to pay respect to. In the end of the novel, there are imaginary lines between mother and daughter, and their relationship suggests understanding and reconciliation.This essay consists of introduction, the body part, and the conclusion. For introduction, the author centers on research objective and scope, presentation of research findings, research methods and research significance.Chapter Two deals with the correlation between family and the society and the novel itself, correlation between the concept of family and social relations, and correlation between individual narration and the picture presented in the novel. Chapter Three elaborates on the experience of the family, and the fact presented in the novel, the meaning of "family" in the novel, and the fact presented in the novel (the ruin of the family and the restoration of it).Chapter Four, the conclusion part of the essay, sums up that the evolution of the family pattern in Piao’s novels came as feudal tradional family, to single-parent urban family, to a separated family. In the process of the evolution, the relations among the characters in the novel go through from contradiction and confliction to understanding and forgiveness.