모범 소수자 신화의 해체 - 『미나 리의 마지막 이야기』의 소수자와 공간 서사 -

초록

This paper examines the silenced lives of Korean immigrants who deviate from the model minority myth, focusing on Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s The Last Story of Mina Lee (2020). The novel reveals the marginalized reality of immigrants through the daughter’s investigation into her mother’s life and reflection on their fractured relationship, triggered by her mother’s sudden death in LA Koreatown. While existing Asian migration narratives have criticized the model minority discourse that idealizes Asian immigrants, they often reproduce a uniform success trajectory. However, this novel’s protagonist is an undocumented single mother who does not speak English and lives isolated within the economic constraints of Koreatown. This portrayal exposes the economic poverty and social stratification of Korean immigrants that model minority discourse has long overlooked. This paper first examines the origins of the model minority myth and reviews critiques and limitations of existing Korean immigrant narratives. It then explores the distinguishing features of The Last Story of Mina Lee. Specifically, it examines how LA Koreatown is consumed in U.S. society and analyzes the spatial exclusion experienced by impoverished Korean immigrants who are unable to leave the neighborhood. It also examines how social prejudices against poor immigrants of color are passed down to the second-generation daughter, creating linguistic, emotional, and spatial rifts between mother and daughter. By focusing on the dual narrative structure, the paper examines how the daughter’s perceptions of her mother shift as she traces her mother’s past. It then explores whether this structure functions as a metaphorical dialogue between mother and daughter. Through this analysis, the paper aims to distinguish this novel from dominant American Dream narratives that reinforce the model minority myth, and instead proposes it as an expanded immigrant narrative that includes the diverse lives of those who have been historically silenced and excluded.

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