The Korean women's images have been appeared in many American novels of the Korean War. They are either whores, bargirls or those who are raped by American soldiers. On one hand, these Korean women described as synthetic images are gradually changed to be portrayed as repeated stereotypes of “seductive women” or the voiceless women unable to claim their lament. On the other hand, these Korean women reveal a status of the Korean national calamities wrought by the war, such as the absence of men of families, the whole national evacuation, extreme poverty, and etc. Therefore, they have to no choice but sell themselves as prostitutes and eventually they are relegated to the slavish position. They are valorized, unvoiced and put in the abject position as well. Consequently their “inferior” nature is defined as a threat of “contamination” toward Western civilization.
美国许多朝鲜战争小说都不同程度地描写了卷入这场战争的韩国女性形象,其中出现频率最高的则多为妓女、吧女和被美军蹂躏糟蹋的女性。她们在美国作者笔下从单个具像逐渐转变成被反复摹写的泛像,变成一种套话,并作为一种符指关系成为这一历史时期关于韩国女性有效的、固定的形象内涵;另外,这一形象不仅反映出韩国一些非正常年龄和身份的女性不得不出卖肉体求生存,成为美军士兵释放战争压力和消遣的工具。她们在美国朝鲜战争小说中是一群被奴役的、失去话语权的“沉默羔羊”。总之,这些“异国形象”无论以何种面目在小说中出现,除极个别之外,并不是对那段历史境遇中韩国女性形象的全面再现,而是美国人依据自我标准体系建构起来的被西方贬低为“诱惑”的女人或沉默的“他者”