이 논문은 이병주의 『관부연락선』을 텍스트로 삼아 이 작품에서 제시하고 있는 탈식민성의 의제를 추론해보고, 동시에 작품의 탈식민적 의의와 그 한계를 탐색해보고자 하였다. 『관부연락선』은 일제 식민지 기간 작가 이병주의 학생/학병 체험, 그리고 해방공간에서의 교사로서의 원체험을 근간으로 식민성과 탈식민성의 함의를 깊이 있게 형상화하였다. 그런데 이 작품은 우리 내면에 잠재되어 있는 식민성의 원인과 그로 인한 문제점을 제대로 추적해내고 있지만 궁극적인 탈식민의 실천적 지평을 보여주지는 못하고 있다. 결국 이병주와 『관부연락선』의 이념적 한계는 일제 식민지 교육과 왜곡된 교양주의 교육으로부터 발원한다고 할 수 있다. 식민적 배치를 부정해야 할 피식민지의 지식인이면서도 식민지 본국의 지식을 내면화할 수밖에 없는 이중구속의 심리상태, 즉 제국주의 교육의 시스템에 의해 배치되고 내면화된 식민지 지식인의 내면을 이 작품은 전형적으로 보여주고 있다. 그런 점에서 『관부연락선』은 식민적 배치와 교육의 모순, 그리고 제국주의의 폭력성을 날카롭게 제시해냈지만 허무주의 혹은 자유주의라는 회색의 영역에 머무른 지식인들의 내면을 제시하는데 그침으로써 실천적 탈식민의 지평까지는 제시하지 못했다고 하겠다.

Lee Byung-Ju`s 『The Gwan-Bu Ferry Boat』 is a proper text of post- colonialism. It realistically shows Yoo Tae-Rim`s experience as a mobilized soldier, the education he got under the Japanese colonial domination, and the effort of intellectuals and students for establishing a nation state after the liberation. Especially, as the topic is 『The Gwan-Bu Ferry Boat』 which connected the way from Japan to Korea(Chosun), it perfectly shows the colonialism of the age and the aspects of colonial domination. This harsh colonial education is shown realistically in the The Gwan-Bu Ferry Boat. Especially, in 1940 during the Pacific War, colonial education of Japan was the same as the paramilitary education. Yoo Tae-Rim who had entered Chosun with a Japanese friend E fell into despair because of the condition of colonial education. Like this, he even had hostility to the Japanese policies and the colonial education he eventually accepted, the Japanese education and thought. The political and national situation of the generation in Chosun is the effect of Japanese irrationally political and social circumstances. Military domination system made Yoo Tae-Rim give up his study and be taken to the army as a soldier half reluctantly. The student soldiers including Yoo Tae-Rim tried to justify their positions as a soldier while thinking that even as Japanese soldiers, they would reject discrimination on Chosun people. But, they found their efforts was totally choplogic and being a student soldier was just a servile behavior like a slave. The tough experience as a mobilized student soldier affected all the generations as the root of sense of guilty on their nation and conscience, and it became an obstacle for them including Yoo Tae-Rim not to project their nation-state in the place of liberation. This work reveals multi-layered contradictions and conflicts of a social commentary and also triggers the motivation to expand the closed field of education toward the social-political field. However, the main character of the work, Yoo Tea-Rim, took a chilly reaction to extended heats of the field of the education. Instead, he seeked the university of the education, which is students` rights of their learning and political neutrality of a teacher required in any society.