Human Acts

At what points in the narrative did you feel yourself wanting to turn away from the images evoked by the prose? How did you feel reading passages such as this one?

Whose story did you feel most drawn into? Why?

How can narrative retelling and remembering provide cathartic release from sufferers of trauma? How can it cause more suffering?

Thinking of the characters you found most compelling, how do you imagine you would have acted in similar circumstances? What do you think you would have done differently?

Why do we observe the funeral ritual when someone dies? How were the characters of the story affected by their inability to have a funeral for their loved one?

Do you think humans have a soul?

Is it inevitable for humanity to continue committing acts of such cruelty as those described in the novel?

How much do you know about the Gwangju uprising in South Korea and its aftermath? Are there similar instances of violence in your own country’s history? What stories have you heard about them?

How do you feel about the Gwangju’s students’ acts of protest for democracy? Were they brave? Was their death pointless or did it serve a greater good?

What brave human acts have you done recently?