The Rainy Spell Analysis

The Rainy Spell by Yun Hueng-Gil is a novel that takes place during the Korean War. It involves the division between a big family due to the fact that the two sons of the grandmothers are fighting on opposite sides of the war—the north and the south. The narrator, only a young boy in the third grade, is the shared grandson between the grandmothers and unfortunately is stuck in the household to watch and observe the conflicts that occur between the family members. It is only assumed that this situation had a large impact on the little boy. War is a difficult concept to understand for someone at his age and he should not have to be directly exposed to the effects of it so early on in life. Despite this, the young boy is a great narrator for the story. He retells what is happening within the house and rarely makes any biased judgements of his own. This experience is what makes him such a strong and important character to the novel. I try to be as compassionate and understanding as I can when thinking about what this young boy had to go through, however it is difficult to truly understand …show more content…
Not only does it bring attention to the seriousness of war, but also brings the reader into deeper interest through the family story. Everyone, at some point in their life, experiences a family issue. While it might not be as serious as the one in this novel, we all can relate to the general idea of family conflicts. The young boy pulls the reader into this story by telling of the separation, confusion, and tears of his once united family. One does not have to know about Korean history to understand what is happening within this family that suddenly becomes divided by war. War is still an ongoing issue in modern society. On top of that, family troubles are extremely common thus making this novel still relatable to readers of