I find Sunja's story to be one of the most heartbreaking I've ever read in a while. To me, it felt like Sunja spent her entire life trying to atone for having fallen victim to Hansu at such a young age. Almost everyone, regardless of whether they explicitly made it known or not, seemed to blame her for what happened. Hansu essentially commited what today would be considered statutory rape, but given the historical social context, regardless of Sunja's innocence, she would still be blamed for it.
Sunja's mother blaming her for Noa's death in the end was particularly heartbreaking. For most of the book, I perceived her mother as having no actual judgement or blame towards her daughter for getting pregnant with Noa, and I felt like she only wanted to protect her daughter from the harsh society they lived in. I think that's what Sunja also felt, so I imagine it was such a slap in the face for Sunja to realize that her mother had always held internal resentment towards her.
Maybe this is a stretch, but even Kyunghee, Sunja's sister-in-law, seemed to carry a lot of judgment towards Sunja. Even though she never explicitly did anything to make me think this, after Sunja's mother's outburst, Kyunghee responded in a way that made me feel like she agreed. If I remember the scene correctly, Kyunghee seemed to respond like a parent telling a child to be polite when they're being brutally honest, rather than being shocked and offended that Sunja's mother could feel that way.
Noa also seems to carry so much subconscious resentment to his mother. Him leaving Waseda, going no-contact with his family, and then taking his own life IMMEDIATELY after talking to his mother for the first time in so many years, would inevitably cause Sunja to feel like she is to blame. The circumstances of his birth/conception would be considered shameful given the time period, but so many people made so many sacrifices and worked hard to ensure that he would never experience any shame or hardship caused by the circumstances of his birth. I felt like Noa never really took any of that into consideration.
Obviously, finding out that the man you always thought was your father is not really your biological father is extremely upsetting. On top of that, finding out your biological father is a very sketchy, possibly corrupt man is also upsetting. However, I feel like Noa didn't even know enough about Hansu and the kind of person he was for him when he found the truth to have such a visceral reaction to him being his real dad.
Also, if Noa was going to be so ashamed of Hansu being his father, why is it that he never seemed to have a problem when Hansu was only known to him as a benefactor??
Anyways, I just had a lot of thoughts and questions about this book and no one to share them with.
by Tall_Blackberry1669