Dong-ho
Dong-ho is the central character in Human Acts. The narrative unfolds around his death, with each chapter showing how different characters remember and mourn him. The first chapter focuses on Dong-ho's life, introducing those connected to him. Hang uses the second-person pronoun "you" to refer to Dong-ho, though this pronoun sometimes refers to other characters as well. Dong-ho's character symbolizes the innocence lost during violent events. He becomes a recurring figure in the memories and narratives of those who knew him. The original Korean title (which can be translated as The Boy is Coming or The Boy Approaches) reflects this sense of ongoingness as the novel's characters repeatedly invoke and remember Dong-ho.
Jeong-dae
The second chapter is told from the perspective of Jeong-dae, who is Dong-ho's best friend. In Chapter 1, Dong-ho reveals a sense of survivor's guilt at having witnessed Jeong-dae's death. After his death, Jeong-dae's soul continues to exist in a non-corporeal form. He feels the presence of other recently departed souls, and he longs to find his sister and Dong-ho. This chapter showcases the dehumanizing way in which the soldiers disposed of civilians' bodies. Jeong-dae watches as his body is added to a monstrous pile and later burned. Although Jeong-dae cannot communicate with other souls, he is immediately aware of his best friend's murder at the hands of the soldiers who overtake Gwangju.
Eun-sook
The third chapter presents the story of Eun-sook, who worked alongside Dong-ho and other civilians at a makeshift morgue to process the bodies of those killed by soldiers. Five years after the 1980 uprising, Eun-sook works at a publishing agency. The trauma and harassment she endured during the uprising left her depressed and furious at the government. After she is seen speaking with a controversial translator, a government interrogator hits her hard seven times. The chapter showcases Eun-sook trying to forget each slap and move on with her work as an editor. Eun-sook represents resilience and the struggle to cope in the aftermath of traumatic events.
The Unnamed Prisoner
An unnamed former prisoner provides an account of the horrendous punishments that he and other inmates suffered for participating in the Gwangju Uprising. Their time in prison was marked by various tortures, lack of food, and humiliation. The former prisoner challenges the ethics of being asked to recount his traumatic experiences. He also brings up fundamental questions about human beings and what they are capable of.
Seon-ju
Seon-ju worked alongside Eun-sook, Dong-ho, Jin-su, and all the other civilians who processed the bodies of those killed by soldiers during the uprising. Unlike the others, Seon-ju was involved in activism her entire life, initially protesting for labor rights and later working as an environmental transcriber fighting to ban radioactive products. Seon-ju remains deeply traumatized by the sexual torture she suffered in prison. Her story embodies the long-lasting effects of trauma.
Dong-ho's Mother
Dong-ho's mother never recovers from her son's death. At first, she participated in protests with other parents whose children were killed during the uprising, but she stopped when her husband fell ill. She struggled to keep her family together, but her remaining sons became estranged from each other and her husband eventually died. Life became a matter of forcing herself to survive and get through each day. A great deal of Chapter 6 involves Dong-ho's mother recounting the past. She remembers her son as a sensitive young boy who could have become a poet.
The Writer
Han Kang includes her own voice in the novel as a way of explaining what motivated her to undertake the harrowing project of writing about a historical atrocity. Since this is a work of fiction, the narrator in the novel's final chapter cannot be said to fully coincide with the author Han Kang, but it still matters that she included her personal catalysts for writing the book. After finding a photograph of a woman mutilated by soldiers during the uprising, Han experienced a loss of innocence at the age of twelve. As an adult, she dove into researching what happened at Gwangju, though she took immense care not to drag up people's past traumatic experiences the way Professor Yoon does in the novel. Instead, she relied on written accounts and asked people she knew about their experiences. The ongoing nature of human brutality haunts Han, but she also is deeply concerned with the human capacity for love and creation.
