Historical reality of the period under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea was imprinted in the mind of writers as something similar to primal experience. Such experience was used as motifs in their novels. In the reality of the colonial rule from the 1910s to late 1930s, characters in the novels shared and reproduced the experience by reflecting the period. Four novels with motifs based on the experience were studied to identify the characteristics of changes in the motifs, and their historical meanings in this paper: they were 「Maeuljip」(1917) by Ju Yo-han, 「Mansejeon」(1922) by Yeom Sang-seop, 「Seulpeun Mosun」(1918) by Yang Geon-sik, and 「Soseolga Gubossieui ilil」(1938) by Park Tae-won. 「Maeuljip」 and 「Mansejeon」 showed a similarity in their stories. Protagonists in the novels were students studying in Japan. They became conscious of the reality and problems of his times when they came home. However, to resolve the problems, they had to leave their hometowns. 「Seulpeun Mosun」 and 「Soseolga Gubossieui ilil」 dealt with issues in the period of the Japanese colonial rule from different point of views by their protagonists. Both stories were very similar in terms of narrative structures and the situation which the protagonists were facing. However, their viewpoints showed a big difference. Such difference depended on whether characters were independent in setting and recognizing the relations between themselves and subjects. It was meaningful to analyze those novels as it not only confirmed something in common in their motifs but also extracted the realistic background of the motifs, furthermore what they represented in their times.