Sangjee Lee /CH5 final draft /Tuesday 1.p.m

National Anthem and Curfew

My mother and I talk all the time but the interview for writing essay was unusual for both of us. She used to tell me some anecdote from her childhood. She told me that her father gave her three white rabbits for Christmas but she never told me how other people lived when she was young. I'm not sure why I didn't ask her before, but preparing for the essay I found out that a lot of events took place during that time in late 1900s such as dictatorship, 1988 Olympic, and biggest economy hardship that Korea went through so far. She looked amused and interested looking at all the questions that I wrote down to interview. But I wanted to focus on the memory that she wanted to tell, rather than writing a whole chronicle about her life.

I casually asked her if there are any particular reason she didn't tell me about the historic events that took place in Korea when she was young. My mom laughed and said that when time passes, only special memory left in people's heart. It leaves 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. "What change the most when you compare the past and today?" She quickly made a cup of coffee while saying that the so many things have changed. "But I guess people have more freedom to think the way they wanted to think. Various opinions are accepted these days." 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?" I wanted to start with a first image that comes up to her mind.  "I remember people had to hear national anthem before watching the movie at the theater." She told me that one time, she followed her mom to watch movie at the theater. When she sat down waiting for the movie to start, she noticed all the people are standing 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. "Your grandmother 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.

I was glad she brought it up because that was few keywords I had in mind. During the research I found out that lot of people remember 1960s and 1970s as oppressive time. The next question I wanted to ask her was about curfew. "I actually had some funny incident about curfew" she said 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 past 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 people take different point of view when studying history of Joseon dynasty. People make movies and write books about kings and queens while revaluating them. "I might not live that long to see that time but It makes me wonder how people from future would think about the time I lived." My mother said after finishing the cup of coffee.