Wrapping up questions // Repishkova Tatiana

Question 1. Choose one of the Korean stories. What kind of emotions were in it? If you have to describe the story to a friend in a few sentences, what would you say?

Krys Lee's story "At the Edge of the world" is not that kind of story you can easily describe with one word or even one sentence. "At the edge of the world" unlike the other stories does not have main and supporting characters. All characters have important roles; all of them have their own story. A genius 9 year old fell in love with neighbor girl and his parents are against her; father cannot forgive himself for his older brother's death and mother is trying to keep family together and lead a normal life in a foreign country. "At the edge of the world" tells you more about one normal family with their problems rather than about life of North-Korean refugee family. Every reader could find something for himself in this story or could even recognize his own family in it.

 

Question 2.  In "At the Edge of the world" the scars of deprivation and suffering mark the older characters in the story, Find and discuss them.

One of the examples of deprivation in "At the edge of the world" story is when Mark, a 9 year old boy, caught his father holding on to a branch with leaves in his hands and shaking it into a bowl of uncooked rice trying to talk to his dead older brother. Mark was sitting on the floor next to his father hugging his knees. He was afraid that his mother came home early and mother never forgive dad and they would never be a family.

Another example of deprivation in the story is when mother of the boy got to know that father asked shaman to make a ritual in order to talk to his death brother. She was crying for the first time in front of her child and screamed to her husband "He's dead. They're all dead. Just don't think". She was scared that he tried to turn back times she didn't want him to keep live past. She wanted to live a normal life.