Extract-
“Once they had been thus simply dressed and placed into a coffin, it was your job to oversee the transfer to the gym, and make a note of everything in your ledger. The one stage in the process that you couldn’t quite get your head around was the singing of the national anthem, which took place at a brief, informal memorial service for the bereaved families, after their dead had been formally placed in the coffins. It was also strange to see the Taegukgi, the national flag, being spread over each coffin and tied tightly in place. Why would you sing the national anthem for people who’d been killed by soldiers? Why cover the coffin with the Taegukgi? As though it wasn’t the nation itself that had murdered them. When you cautiously voiced these thoughts, Eun-sook’s round eyes grew even larger. ‘But the generals are rebels, they seized power unlawfully. You must have seen it: people being beaten and stabbed in broad daylight, and even shot. The ordinary soldiers were following the orders of their superiors. How can you call them the nation?’ You found this confusing, as though it had answered an entirely different question to the one you’d wanted to ask. That afternoon there was a rush of positive identifications, and there ended up being several different shrouding ceremonies going on at the same time, at various places along the corridor. The national anthem rang out like a circular refrain, one verse clashing with another against the constant background of weeping, and you listened with bated breath to the subtle dissonance this created. As though this, finally, might help you understand what the nation really was.”
Set in South Korea in the year 1980, “Human Acts” is a polyphonic novel that explores how the Gwangju uprisings and ultimately the massacre, severely distorted the hopes and lives of people who were involved in it. The novel focuses both on the killings that took place during the massacre and the trauma that the survivors had to live with in the aftermath. The novel also places significant emphasis on the mental agony suffered because of the conflict and how it formed a permanent part of the identities of the sufferers, besides the ideas of violence and the physical manifestation of suffering. Kang also explores the vast divides that exist between people who may be a part of the same movement, commenting on the complex nature of the conflict. Through the multiperspective nature of the novel and the exploration of the concept of a “nation” and its constituents, Kang explores the nationalistic pride that most people seem to hold, to question if the nation is actually holding people together or separating them.
Kang’s use of a limited narrator is perhaps the most salient aspect of the novel because through Dong Ho, Kang sensitively explores the internal conflict that may have risen in the minds of countless young people trying to ascertain if it was “the nation that had murdered” its citizens.
Evidence- The “one stage… you couldn’t quite get your head around was the singing of the national anthem” and “Why would you sing the national anthem for people who’d been killed by soldiers?”
Analysis- Dong Ho found the usage of the symbols of a nation to commemorate the dead quite insulting to them because these people had died for the nation. Perhaps, if they had not sought to fight to make the nation better, they might have still been alive. This is quite similar to the internalised guilt in Dong Ho for the death of Jeong Dae. The two incidents are not like each other in any aspect, but perhaps, in Dong Ho’s mind, he compares his inability to save Jeong Dae with the nation not being able to save its citizens, holding it responsible for their death, just like he holds himself responsible for his friend’s.
Next, Kang presented an alternate view of the situation in the gym through Eun Sook’s perspective as she brought forward the idea that it was the soldiers that had murdered the citizens of Gwanju and they could not be called the nation.
Evidence- “But the generals are rebels, they seized power unlawfully.” and “How can you call them the nation?
Analysis- Eun Sook’s explanation that the generals have seized power and they are the ones that have committed the killings, furthers the divide in Dong Ho and her perception of the conflict. Eun Sook talking about how the soldiers are the ones at fault provides contextualises the conflict as we go beyond just seeing the surface level of the two sides against each other and understanding that even within the two sides, there are a variety of ways of looking at this conflict.
Lastly, Kang explores the idea of what the nation really is through Dong Ho questioning of the same.
Evidence- “answered an entirely different question to the one you’d wanted to ask” and “might help you understand what the nation really was”
Analysis- Dong Ho now seeks to understand what constitutes the nation. If the nation is not its people, what is it made of, or is it just an abstract identity. Ultimately, if the nation is just a “concept” then what was the fight for, why were countless lives lost.