In the memoir Year of Impossible Goodbyes, Sookan changes from someone who is naive and doesn't know much about what is going on and becomes someone who is independent and brave. This change is seen in three moments: when she finds out about her family's history, when she gets separated from her mother, finally when she brings Inchun across the border. Sookan goes to her Grandfathers room and he asked her to wash his feet and she sees he has no toes and realizes that it is because he was tortured. "Sadness washed over me like a big ocean tide. My fingers trembled as I went over each toe with lemon oil" (Choi 41). It has changed Sookan because she realizes that the Japanese are worse than trampling over flowers and life is much harder than she
