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The Review of Korean Studies

ISSN : 1229-0076

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Vol.17 No.1
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It All Leads to Education: Korean Motherhood, Patriarchy, and Class Consciousness in the TV Drama, Eligible Wife (Anaeui Jagyeok)

The Review of Korean Studies / The Review of Korean Studies, (P)1229-0076; (E)2773-9351
2014, v.17 no.1, pp.39-70
https://doi.org/10.25024/review.2014.17.1.002

(2014). It All Leads to Education: Korean Motherhood, Patriarchy, and Class Consciousness in the TV Drama, Eligible Wife (Anaeui Jagyeok). The Review of Korean Studies, 17(1), 39-70, https://doi.org/10.25024/review.2014.17.1.002
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Abstract

Eligible Wife was the latest work of writer Jeong Seongju in 2012. Using a reportage-like realistic portrayal, it explores the clash between two of the most controversial issues for married women: infidelity and children’s education. The basic structure of Eligible Wife is that within the hellish environment where most are brimming with the desire to maintain or ameliorate their social status through education and women play a crucial role as mothers, infidelity reveals a vision for a new way of life. Jeong Seongju’s intricate and balanced description shows at the same time that this living hell is too complex to overcome through a simple “good will triumph” ending. Although education is the most significant intermediary, the focus on child education is not simply the mother’s fulfillment of vicarious satisfaction or her identity formation. Because this living hell contains the entire society’s struggles and desires concerning class, gender , and relationships, everyone involved cannot be unhappy, or happy, at the same time. Jeong Seongju shows ng the fact that nobody is able to thoroughly criticize or take responsibility for the Korean class system, which is maintained and is still believed to be reversible through education. In this aspect, Jeong’s drama is particularly useful for interpreting the desires and identity of Korean society.

keywords
education, motherhood, gender, class consciousness

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