Summary
Dong-ho's mother sees an apparition of her son years after his death. Most of this chapter takes place in her memories. She recalls different moments with Dong-ho, her husband, Jeong-dae, Jeong-mi, and Dong-ho's brothers. Tragedies and trauma have caused Dong-ho's mother to suffer over the years, but she forces herself to keep going.
One particularly painful memory involves the estrangement between Dong-ho's brothers as a result of his death. The eldest holds the middle brother responsible for not forcing Dong-ho to return home before he was ultimately killed by soldiers. To this day, the surviving brothers avoid each other.
Dong-ho's mother prevents herself from blaming Jeong-dae for her Dong-ho's death. Instead, she places the blame on herself.
Dong-ho's mother recalls him as a sweet and sensitive boy who had poetic tendencies. The chapter ends with a memory of a young Dong-ho urging his mother toward a place where the sun shines and flowers bloom.
Analysis
This chapter is told from the first-person perspective of Dong-ho's mother, now an old woman. The original Korean title of this chapter translates to "Toward Where the Flowers Bloom." As other narrators in the book do, Dong-ho's mother flits between her memories and the present day. This shows how past traumatic events directly impact a person's present circumstances. Though Dong-ho's mother has forced herself to continue living, doing so feels to her like a cruel obligation.
Most of this chapter takes place in the narrator's memories. Aligning with the thematic focus on bodies throughout the novel, Dong-ho's mother remembers the impacts that her son's life and death had on her own body. Unlike her other two sons, Dong-ho as a baby latched onto both of her breasts rather than favoring just one. This brought about a physical balance for the narrator which also has metaphorical implications. Dong-ho was a source of balance and light in her life.
At different points in the novel, Han discusses how the burdens of shame, guilt, and grief fall not on soldiers, but on Gwangju citizens and their families. Dong-ho's mother suspects that one of her other sons carries the weight of revenge. This could be an ongoing desire to seek justice for Dong-ho's death or guilt that he did not take vengeful action over the years. By killing Dong-ho, the soldiers broke the family apart in more ways than one. After Dong-ho's eldest brother accused the middle brother of not doing enough to save Dong-ho, they became estranged.
Dong-ho's mother also blames herself for her son's death. She catches herself feeling unfairly resentful towards Jeong-dae since Dong-ho left to search for him in May of 1980. But she stops this line of thinking cold, instead placing all the blame on herself. Though aware of the soldier's responsibility for causing the situation, she still feels culpable for not forcing Dong-ho to return home.
By closing with the image of blooming flowers, this chapter ends on a note of joy, love, and dignity. However, this image is made melancholy by the fact that the blooming flowers only exist in the narrator's memories. The present holds only the bitter cold that Dong-ho's mother cannot shake from her bones.
