This paper examines the basic idea and the differences between ‘the subject’ and ‘the nation’ by starting from the hypothesis that the subject is not the same notion of the nation. It was analyzed thelayers among the characters in Sa-Ryang Kim`s novel which showed the tendency to become ‘the subject’ or ‘the nation’ and made the semiotic functional relation of the characters in association with the theory of G. H. Mead and quadratic function. In the novel, some characters like Hanakami and Genryu who were taken advantage by the Empire of Japan and finally discarded or like In-Sik Park and Mr. Nam who considered themselves as the people of Chosun even though theybecame accustomed to the new-order by the Empire of Japan. The study about these characters also made that Koreans were possible to treat themselves as ‘the subject’ or ‘the nation’ during the Japanese Colonial Era. During the colonial period, ‘the nation’ used to refer the people of Chosun Dynasty and implied the underlying idea of ‘the nation of Chosun Dynasty’, ‘the nation of peninsula’, or ‘the small nation’ which was very different from the original meaning used before the Japanese Colonial Era. Based on this new notion of the word, it was revealed that the characters in the novel were not able to escape from ‘the nation’ and remained in ‘the subject’ or ‘Japanese.’
