지구화 시대 여성의 빈곤과 성 노동자: ZZ 패커의 「거위들」

Abstract

This study examines the changing status of a female African-American character, Dina, who moves from Baltimore to Tokyo, Japan to escape from the poverty but ultimately becomes an immigrant sex worker in ZZ Packer’s short story, “Geese”(2006). Packer describes poverty itself within globalization, which makes the rich much richer and the poor much poorer. In such a terrible situation, Dina is so afraid of starving to death that she only thinks about how to survive in poverty due to her deficiency in technological skills and information about how global capital circulates and why people move. Moreover, Dina suffers from the intersectional oppressions of patriarchal ideology, racial discrimination, and employment instability. She takes over the responsibility of supporting her new family, including Ari, Petra, Zoltan, and Sayeed, who move to Japan in lieu of Ari. During this time, Dina exemplifies two typical woman figures: a mother who endures any agony for her family and a prostitute who sells her body in order to survive. In the end, she cannot help accepting her identity as an immigrant, African American, woman, and sex worker. Therefore, this study criticizes three important factors that drive Dina to become a sex worker: the patriarchal ideology that views a woman as a physical object; racial discrimination that poses a false notion about African Americans, especially African-American women; and the economic downturn that excludes female workers from the job market in the context of globalization.