This thesis studies types and distinctive features of female characters in Gang Shin-jae's novels. The purpose of this study is to look on how the author recognized her period through consideration of female characters. She intended to observe how the problems of 1950s reality was revealed through the lives of characters in stories. The author's early works [Caricature] and [Journey], collections of short stories in the 1950s were selected to answer the questions.
Female characters in Gang Shin-jae's novels can be divided into three types on a large scale and six types in a more specific way.
The First type is 'suffered women in a paternal social structure' Like 'Sung-hae' of [Mist] and 'duk-soon' of [Solution], this group partly showed passive reactions against violent prestige of their husbands They assent their reality and willingly sacrifice themselves.
The rest of them have fear and loss from the vacancy of a patriarch reality due to the war. 'Shi-jung' of [Some Pisorganization] and Young-ja of [A White Night] feel the meaninglessness of life because of the loss of a patriarch.
The second type is 'deviated women from the disorder of sexual consciousness. It is spilt into a group which has a generous view of a sexual idea as a survival way and the other group which assume a critical attitude toward unethical sexual desires.
Mostly the former group became sex workers without any sense of shame, even openly acted, such as 'Patjiy' of [Tolerance], 'Kim Mira' of [Solution] and 'Gi-ae' of [The Way to Haebangchon]. The latter is shown on 'Soon-jung' of [The Altar], the woman of [Martyr Passionary] and 'the sister' of [Record of a Banquet]. They caused some sacrifices for leading their people and themselves into unhappiness to pursue sexual decency. It showed female characters ruined by unethical sexual desires when their complications were about affairs so the could be tragic.
The third type is 'sacrificed women from violence of the war'. It is divided into a group which exposes 'acceptance of the violent ideology by destiny, and the other group which intends 'discouragement and renunciation of a gone coon.
'Ok-rae' of [Nakjojun] and 'Song Jum-hwa' of [Tears] could belong to the prior, sacrificed mercilessly by the ideolgy and violences of the war even
It showed that the consciousness and distinctive features of female characters in Gang Shin-jae's novels have a close relation to social changes. It hold up a true mirror to images at that time through deep-rooted contradictions in a patriarchal society, images of deviated women with confusion of sexual senses and ordeals of sacrificed women by the violence of the war. With female characters comparatively concrete and individual features, it was criticized that ideologies and contradictions consisted in 1950' s Korean society by the author. The most interesting thing was female characters were nothing but understood or adjusted themselves to reality with passive attitudes. This remained a limitation not to able to take up positively.
It needs various and deep studies on her work due to revaluate the significance of literary history. Therefore a formulated appraisement would be accomplished as her works would be discussed with diverse visions not to mentioned in this thesis.