Anyone can unwittingly find themselves preposterously deluded or irrationally obsessed at least once in their live. When it comes to something like love, for example.
-- Narrator (The Monster)

Importance: The author utilizes this quotation to expand his thematic inspection of love. While the man with the scar is an exacting gangster, when he falls in love with Geumbok he acts without thinking or weighing consequences. He pleads with Geumbok to move in with him despite knowing that she is still in love with Geokjeong. Myeong-kwan suggests that love leads the individual to make rash, unwise decisions. The emotion defies logic and supersedes the individual’s intellect.

And what of a mother's love for her child? That was just so-so. It might be more accurate to say it was slightly less that that.
-- Narrator (Coffee)

Importance: Throughout Whale, Myeong-kwan thematically examines motherhood. While Geumbok has fallen in love many times, when she has Chunhui, she does not feel...