Summary

In Chapter 17, the narrator went to a doctor's appointment with her mother. While she waited, she walked around and saw a display of fish tanks. In one tank, a crab climbed to the top but fell, ending up in a lower tank full of fish. In the process, it ripped the fin of a fish, which swam around in circles before collapsing at the bottom of the tank. Outside of a hotel, she saw two girls wearing revealing clothing. She felt as though Sokcho was “always waiting, for tourists, boats, men, spring” (86).

In Chapter 18, the narrator accompanied Kerrand to buy incense. They passed a Buddhist temple and the narrator explained the significance of the animal sculptures outside. They compared the beaches in Sokcho, which featured bunkers containing sub-machine guns, to the beaches of Kerrand's hometown of Normandy. The narrator noted that the famous...