날개 없는 흑인 -『신의 아이들은 모두 날개가 있다』 (The Black Without Wings: All God’s Chillun Got Wings)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 21세기영어영문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 영어영문학21 / 21권 / 2호 / 129 ~ 150페이지
· 저자명 : 임미진

초록

All God's Chillun Got Wings is a play about the marriage of a black man to a white woman. The conflict in the play has profound meaning from social and tragic viewpoints. In a society where a man's value is decided not by his inner worth but by his outer appearance human understanding is made and distorted by the color of his skin. In this play by the marriage to Ella a white woman Jim the black hero wants to be compensated to some degree for the humiliation to which his society has subjected him as a member of the so-called “lower” race. He despises any sign of the slave mentality which rises from his racial origin. For him whiteness is the symbol of human dignity. Ella, on her part, is branded as black by the society because of her fallen sexual behaviors. For her the marriage is intended as an attempt to get out of the bondage of her personal past, as for Jim of his racial past.
Both of the main characters are the victims of the society: he as a member of an inferior race, she as a member of the inferior sex. The marriage of these two complicated personalities results not in spiritual unity but in a complete misunderstanding of each other which turns their life together into a nightmare. Jim strives to become a lawyer in order to rise his social level but Ella does not want it because her only sense of superiority comes form the fact that she is white differently from him.
Even though Ella succeeds in breaking Jim, in destroying his individuality, and in preventing his development as a person, there remains invincible truths between them; the whiteness of their souls and the sincerity of their love. Ella breaks down mentally, not being able to endure the intensity of the conflict between her faithful passion for Jim and her demonic desire to keep him in an inferior position.
The play dramatizes the tragic failure of Jim to belong either to his white wife or to the white society. It emphasizes the devious ways in which this social prejudices and psychological complexes prevent the true union of black and white persons. The hero and heroine of the play are only pure victims whose tragic catastrophe results mainly from the difference of color and its social and personal oppression in spite of their characteristic flaws.

영어초록

All God's Chillun Got Wings is a play about the marriage of a black man to a white woman. The conflict in the play has profound meaning from social and tragic viewpoints. In a society where a man's value is decided not by his inner worth but by his outer appearance human understanding is made and distorted by the color of his skin. In this play by the marriage to Ella a white woman Jim the black hero wants to be compensated to some degree for the humiliation to which his society has subjected him as a member of the so-called “lower” race. He despises any sign of the slave mentality which rises from his racial origin. For him whiteness is the symbol of human dignity. Ella, on her part, is branded as black by the society because of her fallen sexual behaviors. For her the marriage is intended as an attempt to get out of the bondage of her personal past, as for Jim of his racial past.
Both of the main characters are the victims of the society: he as a member of an inferior race, she as a member of the inferior sex. The marriage of these two complicated personalities results not in spiritual unity but in a complete misunderstanding of each other which turns their life together into a nightmare. Jim strives to become a lawyer in order to rise his social level but Ella does not want it because her only sense of superiority comes form the fact that she is white differently from him.
Even though Ella succeeds in breaking Jim, in destroying his individuality, and in preventing his development as a person, there remains invincible truths between them; the whiteness of their souls and the sincerity of their love. Ella breaks down mentally, not being able to endure the intensity of the conflict between her faithful passion for Jim and her demonic desire to keep him in an inferior position.
The play dramatizes the tragic failure of Jim to belong either to his white wife or to the white society. It emphasizes the devious ways in which this social prejudices and psychological complexes prevent the true union of black and white persons. The hero and heroine of the play are only pure victims whose tragic catastrophe results mainly from the difference of color and its social and personal oppression in spite of their characteristic flaws.

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