Skip to main content

#17 The Tower (Marghanita Laski, 1995)

 Rating: 8.8/10

        For my entire life, I have dreamed of a life out of a small province in Ulsan. Because my mom let me experience bigger worlds like Washington D.C. and San Jose in such a young age, I coveted to go back to the US one day. Since my parents aren’t the richest people, I had be the recipient of scholarships to enroll a university in the US. KMLA was the only way of having a better possibility of receiving a huge amount of scholarship since the school certifies my value as a student with potential to some extent. 16 years of my life, I looked towards only one place. KMLA.

        I have no enjoyable memories with my primary or middle school friends. KMLA to a student in Ulsan was a goal so tall, that I constantly doubted whether it was a plausible goal (one or no student gets accepted to KMLA each year). But few moments after I got accepted to KMLA, the sense of futility one feels when one overcame trials and reached the pinnacle overwhelmed me. Wouldn’t this be the feeling Caroline felt when she saw no beautiful scenery at the top of the tower?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

#4 Gooseberries

  Gooseberries, By Anton Chekhov(1898) Rating: 7.9/10 As an animal with instinct, consisting of genes that seek to convey the most immaculate components to the next generation, mankind ought to pursue Happiness. While it is erroneous to violate moral standards, man should be allowed to attain the opportunity of seizing Happiness under the ethical codes. With Happiness as a source of motivation, they survive another day in the world of disharmony. Whether or not I should buy a new laptop to replace my old, malfunctioning laptop purely depends on the amount of Happiness I can acquire out of it. As long as I'm affordable, there is no reason for me to get mad over the laptop that freezes every 10 seconds and experience the pain of those who are unaffordable. It does no good to anyone unless the money is donated to those in need. This story simply made me feel thankful for how capable I am of feeling Happiness. Alyohin lives such an ascetic and moral life, yet he seems unhappy with self...

#18 Snowman (YooMi Seo)

  Rating: 8.8/10     South Korea  is a nation of a miracle that stands as one of the most prominent countries in the world, even after successive wars. The world expected the resurrection of South Korea to be impossible, but South Koreans proved them wrong. However, behind this magical success lay the appalling reality where Koreans are chased by slogans yearning for more efficiency and higher competitiveness. Overheated competition resulting in the isolation of citizens and even death is now rather the cause of stagnation than a stimulus for social development.      In this short story,  the protagonist, who the boss constantly pressures to become better, gradually loses self-respect. He passively allows himself to receive provocative remarks from the boss, not attempting to defend himself, albeit he has admissible reasons for his behaviors. This appalling social structure renders citizens to show frantic commitment to their work, and those who c...

#19 Visitors that Come at Night (RyuJin Jang)

 Rating: 9/10     We scorn  developing countries in southeast and western Asia for not establishing complete gender equality. However, looking back at ourselves, neither South Korea nor any other advanced society has developed complete gender equality. Ryujin Jang’s story story make us reflect on our society’s structure where single women in their twenties can’t feel safe outside the protection of a male.      I think  a scene in this story impressively depicted the appalling aspect of our society. When the protagonist encounters two crushed cockroaches, she imagines loads of cockroaches temporarily hiding into the darkness the moment she turns on the light. However, those obscene bugs are not eradicated, but temporarily out of sight. Similarly, I think the author was trying to describe how gender inequality in Korea is pervasive in the dark side of the society, under the cover of perfection.