Love/Friendship

The Island of Sea Women stresses the importance of nurturing acts to maintaining bonds of friendship and love. In their middle-age, Mi-ja and Young-sook’s relationship suffers a rupture but ultimately heals when Young-sook understands Mi-ja’s enduring selflessness and her own shortcomings as a friend.

In “How Do We Fall in Love?” Young-sook states, “No one picks a friend for us; we come together by choice. We are not tied together through ceremony or the responsibility to create a son; we tie ourselves together through moments” (35). Young-sook and Mi-ja did not have to become friends. Their first moment together was a moment of conflict, when Young-sook tackles Mi-ja for stealing from her family garden. Despite this encounter, Mi-ja, however, wants to be Young-sook’s friend, modeling her actions in the garden later that day (40) and, after they are finished working for the day, making...