Summary

In "First Language," Sae-ri and her husband, James, drive to Second Chance Ranch. As they drive through the Lincoln Tunnel, Sae-ri tells herself she will tell James the truth once they cross the blue line. The blue line marks the border between New York and New Jersey.

She and James have been married for 13 years. James is a cop. Sae-ri has tried to be a good wife. She remembers him telling her "that literature is sad because life is sad," but she does not think this is true (45). She thinks life is about making decisions.

"Fourteen years ago, in 1988," James's mother got cancer (46). Upset that she would die with her son unmarried, she contacted a matchmaker. The matchmaker contacted Sae-ri's mother in Korea, saying she had found a husband in America for Sae-ri. Sae-ri was 19, and living with her two-year-old son, Min-soo, and...