Comment on theme

The author explores the theme of friendship primarily through Young's relationship with Jaehee in Part I of the novel. Young and Jaehee meet and become friends when they are both 20 years old and their lives are immediately shown to have a kind of synchronicity. Jaehee sees Young kissing a man in a parking lot and when he asks her not to tell anyone at their college, she promises she will not. Shortly thereafter, Young returns the favor when he overhears some classmates gossiping about Jaehee and calling her promiscuous. He defends her, and in the process ostracizes himself from his male classmates. But Jaehee's friendship means more to him than these surface-level relationships. The author demonstrates the strong bonds of their friendship in both large and small ways. When Jaehee needs an abortion, Young pays for it, and when Young's ex-boyfriend comes to their apartment making a scene about the breakup, Jaehee takes the boyfriend out for a drink and calms him down. Their friendship is alluded to symbolically by the frozen blueberries Jaehee keeps stocked in the freezer for Young and the Marlboro Reds he buys for her in return.