The book ‘Human Acts’ by Han Kang provided a different type of book to my literature repertoire. The use of grotesque imagery really helped exacerbate the severity of the Gwangju Uprising by highlighting the true inhumane acts and descriptions of individuals during the uprising. The grotesque made me feel uneasy and so I was able to relate better to the time and actions of the past. The use of the various narratives and persopetives throughout the novel helped show the different impacts of the inhumane acts of the South Korean government on helpless individuals both before and after death. I typically enjoyed the ‘Boy’s Friend’ chapter as I thought it was a well written chapter that depicted the struggles after death and portrayed what actually happens to people after death. Typically in other novels this isn’t shown and so it added nice depth to the novel. I remember reading the book ‘1984’ by George Orwell last year as one of my group read books and this is very related to Human Acts. Both novels touch on the idea of government oppression of helpless individuals and the idea of institutional power. The chapter ‘The Editor’ also made me think of Saint Hoax, a non-literary text we studied last year. This was because they both highlighted how the public is influenced through the media. Saint hoax uses the media as a tool to spread global significant issues with the wider public and in the chapter ‘The Editor’ we see how the spread of news at the time top the wider public was silenced and censored in order to maintain a good image to the local and even global population. Overall, I thought it was a really interesting read as it was something I wouldn’t usually read in terms of style and the book gave me a valuable insight into what it was like for individuals at the time of the Gwangju uprising and both the psychological and physical repreucssions helpless individuals sustained after as a result of the lack of humanity by the South Korean government.
Global Issues:
- Lack of humanity
- Authoritarian government’s use of extreme force against dissent/alternate views.
- Government Oppression and Brutality
- Censorship and Loss of Freedom
- The remembrance of a dark past
- Physical and psychological repercussions of inhumane events
Connections:
- Bobbie Dylan – speaking out against the government
- Black Mirror – governments control over individuals, institutional power
- HandMaids tale – the use of authoritarian power and lack of freedom of speech
- Saint Hoax – influencing the public through the media – e.g. the editor – Women are often depicted negatively in the media and are “targeted” – e.g. the factory girl
- 1917 – depiction of violent environments – war – oppression of individuals
- 1984 – Totalitatran regime – governments control over individuals, institutional power, use of power for own personal gain