Essay Questions

Why did students from over 30 universities demonstrate in South Korea from 1979 to 1988?

The author's focus is to show readers that vibrant modern South Korea is a product of democracy that over 70,000 university students fought for in the last two decades. During the military coup in 1979, President Park Chung Hee was assassinated, and the country plunged into chaos. The military ruled the country for 9 years, and that period was characterized by anarchy. University students took to the streets to push for a democratically elected government. Fortunately, a democratically elected government was put in place in 1989, and since then, South Korea has enjoyed political stability.

What is the symbolic connotation of the Gwangju prison in the novel Human Acts?

Gwangju symbolizes the problems the prisoners go through while in detention. One of the intimates gives a detailed account of the challenges prisoners go through. For instance, the reader learns that prisoners are brutally beaten when interrogated. In addition, the prisoners are not given adequate food and medical attention. Therefore, Gwangju prison paints a picture of the inhumane treatment of the inmates.

How does the author build the theme of death?

Death is the main topic throughout the novel. At the begging of the novel, a crowd of people is gathered in the main square to mourn the departed souls. After the president is murdered, a series of violent attacks on demonstrators by the police leads to several uncountable deaths. When Dong-ho goes to the Provincial Office to look for the corpse of his friend, he is shocked to find thousands of corpses piled together. All these images of violence and corpses show that death is the main topic in the novel.