Mother/Daughter Relationships

The author explores the theme of mother/daughter relationships through the complicated feelings the narrator has about her mother. The unnamed narrator is living in Sokcho, her hometown, after having left the city to attend university in Seoul. She tells both Kerrand and Jun-oh that she feels she cannot leave Sokcho because of her mother, but it seems likely that this is a convenient excuse and she simply feels unable to leave as she is unable to commit to any other decisive action throughout the novel. However, it is clear that the narrator feels a considerable amount of distress related to her relationship with her mother, who frequently judges her appearance and her lifestyle choices. She tells the narrator that she is too thin, but also comments, “So young and pretty, and still not married...” (14). The narrator tells her mother that she plans to...