The Tragic Rebirth of the Race of Angels: Korean Sexism through Cho Nam-Joo’s Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

In terms of its trendsetting electronic products and popular culture, Korea plays a leading role in the world. In such a dynamic cultural and economic environment, it is difficult to believe that many Korean women still face oppression. Written by an insider who has witnessed and experienced the deprivation of women in various Korean settings, Cho Nam-Joo’s debut novel Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (2016) depicts the life of a typical young woman in Korea. The story of the protagonist Kim Jiyoung is told through events that reveal deep-rooted gender bias and sexist discrimination at every stage of her life. Each of the scenarios depicted illustrates the inescapable torture imposed upon Korean women. In this ideological context, women’s individuality is eventually corroded. With reference to Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, this chapter explores how a cultural environment that is unfavorable to women has given rise to the tragic rebirth of the Victorian gender codes suggested by Coventry Patmore in his long poem The Angel in the House (1854). In light of the antiquated nature of Korean gender norms, the positions of twentieth-century Western female writers and activists and their criticisms over Patmore’s patriarchal framework are used to measure the progress of Korean feminism in the twenty-first century.