Yi Munyol’s Our Twisted Hero is a prime example of a coming-of-age novella that resists riddling its readers with the genre’s common tropes, instead inviting its audience to delve further into the depths of character exploration. Assigning the young and naïve Pyongt’ae as the eyes and ears of the readers, Yi tells a story of power and respect as in the lives of the young and maturing. As a result, in this tale of rivalry, readers expect to be greeted with clear-cut heroes and villains – characters to fight against and characters to fight for. Instead, Yi presents characters with nearly equally ambiguous motivations along with morals neither black nor white but the many varying shades in between. With the creation of a collection of characters
…show more content…
There is certainly a great amount of character background that goes unexplored by Yi - as readers are limited by Pyongt’ae’s lone narration – but it is what is left unsaid that emphasizes Sokdae’s depth. As the class tyrant, Sokdae is certainly one that abuses his power without remorse, with crimes ranging from “sexual things like making [the boys] lift the girls’ skirts” (97) and “forcing them to…masturbate” (97) to “economic exploitation…like making the children of shop-keepers contribute so much money every week” (97). Nevertheless, he breaks the average class bully mold with his social intelligence and knack for manipulation. Pyongt’ae is the first to introduce readers to Sokdae’s talents, having originally been fooled by the class monitor’s act. Within minutes of meeting him, Pyongt’ae describes Sokdae as “an extraordinary boy” (11), capable of “[washing] clean any feeling…of being brought to him against [Pyongt’ae’s] will” (11) while also “[freeing him] from [his] disappointment in the behavior of [their] teacher” (11). Regardless of the fact that Pyongt’ae is later disillusioned of his understanding of Sokdae, his initial reaction to the latter asserts the notion that Sokdae is a talented young boy (even if he may not be so pure in moral and motivation). He acknowledges that power, more often than not lies in the hands of those that take it, unlike Pyongt’ae, and takes advantage of this. Thus, readers may come to admire Sokdae’s cunningness and ability to maintain power and respect in the classroom, but it remains just as difficult to name him the hero of the story as it is to name Pyongt’ae the hero, with his many acts of injustice and tyranny directed towards his
There is certainly a great amount of character background that goes unexplored by Yi - as readers are limited by Pyongt’ae’s lone narration – but it is what is left unsaid that emphasizes Sokdae’s depth. As the class tyrant, Sokdae is certainly one that abuses his power without remorse, with crimes ranging from “sexual things like making [the boys] lift the girls’ skirts” (97) and “forcing them to…masturbate” (97) to “economic exploitation…like making the children of shop-keepers contribute so much money every week” (97). Nevertheless, he breaks the average class bully mold with his social intelligence and knack for manipulation. Pyongt’ae is the first to introduce readers to Sokdae’s talents, having originally been fooled by the class monitor’s act. Within minutes of meeting him, Pyongt’ae describes Sokdae as “an extraordinary boy” (11), capable of “[washing] clean any feeling…of being brought to him against [Pyongt’ae’s] will” (11) while also “[freeing him] from [his] disappointment in the behavior of [their] teacher” (11). Regardless of the fact that Pyongt’ae is later disillusioned of his understanding of Sokdae, his initial reaction to the latter asserts the notion that Sokdae is a talented young boy (even if he may not be so pure in moral and motivation). He acknowledges that power, more often than not lies in the hands of those that take it, unlike Pyongt’ae, and takes advantage of this. Thus, readers may come to admire Sokdae’s cunningness and ability to maintain power and respect in the classroom, but it remains just as difficult to name him the hero of the story as it is to name Pyongt’ae the hero, with his many acts of injustice and tyranny directed towards his