Echoes of Colonial Assimilation: Examining Japanese Education and Ideological Influence in Kim Saryang’s “Into the Light”

Abstract

This paper examines the influential role of Japanese colonial education in shaping the ideological landscape of Koreans from 1911 to 1945. It argues that this influence was primarily exerted through the dissemination of Japanese primary school textbooks in the Korean book market. Using the Japanophone literary work “Into the Light” by Korean colonial writer Kim Saryang, the study illustrates how fictional characters reflect the reality of Korean assimilation into Japanese colonial ideology through education. Additionally, the paper highlights the limitations of the text in resisting Japanese colonialism, particularly concerning language use and depictions of the colonized people’s ideology, which inadvertently aligned with the colonizers’ expectations. This created a cyclical process between the colonial education system and the literary market: the introduction of Japanese primary school textbooks in colonial Korea transformed the book market, leading to ideological shifts among primary school students. Over time, this colonial influence prompted Korean writers to produce Japanophone literature, further influencing the book market and perpetuating the cycle. The paper reveals the impact of education as a tool for shaping ideology, offering a new perspective on how colonial educational systems influenced the thoughts of the colonized. By analyzing the limitations in language use and ideological representation in “Into the Light”, the paper explores how colonial literature both conformed to the expectations of the colonizers and reflected the resistance and adaptation of the colonized. This exploration helps to understand the complex relationship between literature and education during the colonial period.