Year Of Impossible Goodbyes

Decent Essays
During the book year of impossible goodbyes, Sookan changes in many ways. From being a young girl with her whole family with her to just herself and Inchun escaping to South Korea.
The first topic that changes Sookan is when the Japanese come and take over North Korea. This changed Sookan and her family because they where used to being their own country being able to believe in their own religion. Then the Japanese came and they couldn't go to the Korean churches or temples, instead they had to go to the Japanese temples and schools. “The Japanese flag had flown in front of the entrance to our house.” (Choi 91) Sookan had to deal with not believing in her own Korean religion, she had to “believe” in the Japanese religion.
The second and most

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Instead, the Japanese exploited their resources with ignorance of the local customs by forcing them to recognize the divinity of the Japanese emperor. What was even worse was the mass killing, raping, and looting of the people in Nanjing. In addition, 800,000 Koreans were sent to other conquered territories to serve as laborers that would produce the materials necessary for Japan’s advancement. Furthermore, those laborers suffered from malnourished diets and harsh working conditions in unhealthy climates. Not only that, they violate the rights of women from the Philippines and Korea by forcing them to be prostitutes for the Japanese…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Choi Ki-young’s article “Forced Migration of Koreans to Sakhalin and Their Repatriation,” he argues that Sakhalin Korean were put in an awkward position that they were forced to leave their hometown to settle down in Sakhalin as soldiers, workers and comfort women under the colonization of Imperial Japan, but both Japanese government and South Korean government did not make obligated efforts to the repatriation of Sakhalin Korean to South Korea while Soviet government presented indifferent attitude towards this issue after the war between Imperial Japan and Soviet government. And he also described in his article how Sakhalin Korean activists made contribution to influence the international position of Sakhalin Koreans and it ultimately turned…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Summary Of The Farewell

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the book () written by () , the author explains the challenges the founding brothers including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr faced as the formed the new government of the united states. The author splits the book into seven sections, each telling a different story or series of events. The author tells the reader that they should understand the events both on how they actually occurred, and how they were portrayed when later revealed. The book focuses on important aspects of the revolutionary war as well as the influences each founding brother and their contributions to American history, and how it all helped shaped America into what it is now. “…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book when they got back everything was different, people was treating them different, it was like they were treated as how society treats blacks. " They said the signs in the windows were the same wherever they went: NO JAPS ALLOWED." (Otsuka 67) This shows that people are discriminating Japanese people, and has some form of segregation…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Westernization Dbq Essay

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the same region, the Japanese exclude the religion of the Portuguese in document 5, “The matter relating to the banning of Christianity is known [to the Portuguese]. However, heretofore they have secretly transported to those who are going to propagate that religion...they must be subjected to punishment.” Here is where we see the opposition to European Westernization. It is understandable that the Japanese must not want to convert to this newly introduced religion and their uncertainty in the religion, but they go further to say that if the Europeans insist on…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Modern day North Korea, nicknamed the hermit kingdom, is known to be heavily isolated from the influences of the world. Its people are secluded and forced to praise their ruler, Kim Jong-un, or else they shall pay a dreadful price. Moreover, personally, I do not believe that Jong un’s people truly see and love him as this god-like figure. To me, I see them as terrified and depressed people who are involuntarily forced by the Korean government to live in a place with no freedom. This is even shown by the number of refugees who risk not only their own lives but their families in order to desperately escapes the clutches of their horrifying environment.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There has been a grand total of 129,864,880 books published ever. All of these fall into the category of essential questions that I have learned. Some of the books also contain some of the essential questions that I have found interesting. This year in english class we read Night by Elie Wiesel and the novel contains the essential question of seeking justice and bearing witness about terrible things that have happened like the holocaust and to promote what happened so the act can be prevented from ever happening again. We also read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which contains the essential questions of core and moral beliefs.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Sookan changes in many ways throughout the book Year of Impossible Goodbyes when faced with the following situations: When Sookan, Inchun and their Mother all sit by Grandfather revisiting the times before and during the beginning of the war, when Sookan and Inchun are blessed with the man with the broom and his kindness, and finally, is the final gruelling stretch over the border. Though Sookan’s Grandfather is very ill and and about to pass away, she learns many things that made her feel more hopeful and understanding than ever before. The times before the war were light and hopeful, and Korean culture spread across the country with pride. “‘I (Mother) had always hoped and prayed that I would be able to show you these pictures when we were…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Leaving a life of hardship in Korea to face even more challenges but the challenges they experienced in their new country outweighed any of the hardships if they were to stay in…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Subject: This novel is a memoir of Hongyong Baek, who grew up in Korea and had to experience the repressed roles assigned to women within the society. It examines the gender, religious, and racially oppressed individual between world war II and the Korean Civil war. She left during the Japanese occupation and again during the korean civil war that now divides her family, but be becomes victorious and continues her successful ch’iryo practice in California. Occasion: Lee is the author of national bestseller Still Life With Rice, and its sequel In The Absence of Sun, memoirs in which she documents her family's experience in war-torn Korea from the 1930s to 1997.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Long Goodbye

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The article, “The Long Good-Bye: Mother's Day in Federal Prison", by Amanda Coyne discusses how her Mother’s day visit with her nephew to see her sister in Perkin, Illinois Federal Prison Camp. The focus of “Long Goodbye” is on the relationship of separated children and their incarcerated mothers. The women in federal prison were caught doing things for people whom they loved and had no idea what they were doing was illegal, or simply just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Coyne by citing Toby’s desire to be like his mom and his misunderstanding of whether or not she’s “good” or “bad” Coyne highlights the fact that families are effected by the mother and that when the mothers figure is absent, society loses a certain empathy…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One of the most trending topics in all of the media is Kim Jong-Un and North Korea. This is for good reason, as there are many ideas to report, like how Kim Jong-Un and North Korea’s government has made its country dystopian-like. When analyzing how the government of North Korea makes decisions that creates a dystopian society among their citizens, one can evaluate what changes Kim Jong-Un made that was so influencing and controlling that their country became dystopian, determine the specific impacts this change or these changes have on their nation’s or another nation’s people, and comprehend the various genres of literature be used as a proactive tool in educating people about dystopian societies and progression toward equality. Because no…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hyeonseo Lee with David John’s The Girl with Seven Names recalls Hyeonseo Lee’s life in North Korea and her escape from North Korea. She has seven unique names representing her different identities that are explored in the story. These names are Kim Ji-has, Min-young, Chae Mi-ran, Jang Soon-hyang, Chae In-hee, Park Su -Ja, and Hyeonseo, her current name that she goes by. The Story starts off with Kim Ji-hae’s mother forced to break away from her lover and trapped into future marriage with a man who she doesn’t love conspired by her own mother. During the marriage, Kim Ji-hae was conceived, but due to her mother having conflicts with her biological dad, she divorced him for her true love.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Richard E. Kim was born in Hamheung, North Korea in 1932. Kim grew up in a very religious family, his grandfather was a Christian minister. Before the Korean War began Kim and his family fled, moving south until they ended up in Seoul. The communist troops were taking over Seoul, they arrested and killed Kim’s grandfather. Kim escaped Seoul and fled to Inchon.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Contemporary South Korea is often regarded as a cultural and economic hub within the world, but it is important to acknowledge the extensive history of South Korea that has been decorated by violence, corruption, and social disparity. Enduring foreign powers controlling institutional forces, a turbulent war against North Korea, two military regimes, and an intense financial crisis, the past century within South Korea has molded its population to quickly adapt to social, economic, and institutional changes. This history, having shaped the culture that inhabits South Korea, has been reflected in the films that are produced by South Korean directors. Many of the films utilize characters who have been effected by a traumatic past that continues…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays