Human Acts

Dong-ho’s mother thinks she sees Dong-ho again outside her house, still a middle-school boy. She chases after him but can’t find him; she addresses him as “you,” telling him about her journey home. That summer, there is torrential rain that creates some potholes, so new tarmac is poured over the road. Dong-ho’s mother repeatedly goes and stands on the new tarmac, feeling it warm her from a chill that has settled into her body, but also hoping to catch another glimpse of Dong-ho.

But then, Dong-ho’s mother acknowledges the impossibility of this, remembering how she prepared his body for burial. Her middle son threatened to get revenge after his death, but she told him that if anything happened to him, she would die. Dong-ho’s death weighs heavily on his middle brother, aging him before his time. The eldest brother blamed the middle brother for failing to bring Dong-ho home, severing the relationship between the two.

Thinking back to her last conversation with Dong-ho, Dong-ho’s mother wonders why she believed his reassurance to her that he would be home in time for dinner. She also remembers Dong-ho’s friendship with Jeong-dae, celebrating their closeness: “There was something comforting about the sight of you and Jeong-dae heading off to school in your identical uniforms, side by side like two peas in a pod” (189).