National anthem and Curfew
201302361 Sangjee Lee
My mother and I talk all the time but the interview for writing paper was unusual for both of us. She used to tell me some anecdote from her childhood such as how her father gave her three white rabbit for Christmas but she never told me about how she spent her 20's. What was the biggest event that took place, how she and her family were doing at those times. I did research about some historic events took place when she was in her 20's and 30's. She looked amused and interested looking at all the questions that I wrote down to interview.
The first question I asked was that why she didn't tell me about any of the big events took in Korea all these years. My mom laughed again and said that when time passes, only special memory left in your heart. It left a footprint but you can usually remember them not as a whole story but the image. "By the way, I know you always complained about history of modern Korea. So I figured I might make you boring with my story" she added. I told her that hearing from a person who really went through the whole event would be different from just reading the list of simple fact from the history book. "A lot of stuff happened in 1960 from 2000 according to my research. Wasn't it?" She quickly nodded while saying that the most dramatic changes might have happened during when she was still a young girl. She also added that seeing the society now, and looking back the year she can't believe how all the thing changed so much.
"Do you remember any specific event when you were young? At least some image of it that made a deep impression on you?" She drank coffee while thinking for few minutes. "I remember people always have to hear national anthem before watching movie at the theater." She said that when she was little, she followed her mom to watch movie at the theater. When she sat down while waiting for the movie to start, she noticed all the people stood up. "It was national anthem coming from the speaker. The image of people standing up before the movie might look strange to you but it was normal from that time." I asked her how she felt about it. She said that she was a young girl and simply thought it was weird and didn't pay much attention but later found out that it was for the patriotism. It was only decades after the Korean War. Government forced patriotism in people's mind. "My mom told me that the life got so much better compare to the time right after the war. But I guess people didn't have much freedom to think in the way they want to think. In school, she had to write a lot of essay about democracy as a writing contest.
She waited for me while I took some memo but suddenly started a new story saying she remembered something else. "I had some funny incident about curfew" she said while smiling. I didn't understand why she was smiling so I asked her wasn't curfew uncomfortable. She said she might have felt that way but now after twenty, or thirty year or so it is just a memory. "It was almost like I was in 007 series." The curfew was from 12:00a.m. to 4 a.m. but it started much earlier before she was born. She was at her friend's house but lost track of time while talking. When she realized it was too late it was almost pass 11p.m. She said she don't know why she didn't thought about just staying at friend's house but she left quickly. She ran and ran through the ocean of people. "The street was literally filled with people around 11 p.m. because of all the people trying to go home." She said people got caught by the police if they stay on the street after 12.a.m.
I learned in high school that late 1900 was when Korea's industrialization happened and Korea's GDP hiked, but hearing her story I felt it was a dark time for people to express their thought freely. I asked her how she felt about the whole situation such as curfew and listening to national anthem before watching movie. "I guess the scariest thing is that you get used to it." She said she heard lot of people talking about that time whether it is negative or positive. "But I want to know how people would see this after hundred years." She told me how the people take different point of view when studying history of Joseon dynasty. They make movies and write books about kings and queens while revaluating them. "I might not live long to see that time but It makes me wonder how people from future would thought about the time I lived." My mother said after finishing the cup of coffee.
were clear to understand.
ReplyDelete3. What the writer's mother experienced in her 20's and 30's, curfew and national anthem are the main topic of the essay.
4. "A lot of stuff happened in 1960s to 2000. Wasn't it" and "I want to know how people would see it in the future" are an effective direct quote, I think.
5. I think there were enough quotations in the interview, not too much but not too few.
6. I suggest the writer describe more how her mother felt in each special memories.
1. I liked how she developed her story. I could imagine how the interview went and what her mother experienced. I also interviewed my mom but the story from Sangjee's mother was different from what I heard from my mother so it was really interesting.
ReplyDelete2. I think all parts