Summary

At the outset of Whale, in “The Brickyard”, Chunhui returned to the abandoned brickyard where she learned to make bricks as a child. Nine days earlier, Chunhui walked out of prison and began walking toward Pyeongdae. In “Unusual Manhood”, an old crone sold food out of her house shortly after the train came to Pyeongdae. When she was young, she worked for a “wealthy family [who] had an only son, who happened to be a halfwit” (16). The old crone cared for the son, which no one found indecent because she was not attractive. When she saw the size of his unusually large manhood, the old crone began sleeping with him. One evening, when they were in the middle of intercourse, the halfwit’s mother walked in, and the old crone was dragged to the yard. The mistress ordered her guards to...