정채봉 동화의 주제 연구

A Study on the Fairy Tales by Jeong Chae-bong

Jeong Chae-bong is remembered as a fairy tale writer that contributed to the establishment of the high status of the Korean children's literature through his marvelous works of great artistic values. Until he passed on due to his chronic disease in 2001, he continued writing stories for children battling cancer ferociously, which proves how passionate he was about children's stories body and soul. His works too prove that he poured a great amount endeavor to express the world of innocent and beautiful children's mind in his stories. He offered the chance for the modern people to realize the importance of life and nature in the worldly and material society through a harmony between his lyrical and succinct sentences and fantasy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal characteristics of his fairy tales by analyzing his works in terms of theme. The scope was limited to 100 short fairy tales that were judged to fit elementary school students. The basic beginning stage, Chapter II reviewed his birth, growing, activities, and consciousness as a writer. The data revealed that his literature started from 'children's mind,' The major discussions and findings of Chapter III were as follows: the themes of his fairy tales included virtues of love and mercy, realization of children's mind, reorganization of legends and historical mind, interest in the separation and unification of two Koreas, and critical depiction of absurd situations. The theme of virtue of love and mercy was presented by the characters that overcame given situations with love for mankind or realized love through sacrifices. The children's mind was suggested as a practical means to lead a truthful and sincere life.