Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapters 5-6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

A Map of the World

When Jiyoung and Eunyoung move into their own room, their mother hangs a map of the world on the wall. She points out Seoul and observes that in a wide world, their city is just a tiny dot. Later, while Eunyoung is contemplating her college options, Mother looks at the map. Her daughters have marked it with stickers on countries they’d like to visit. Eunyoung’s stickers are on northern European countries selected because few Koreans live there.

The map is a symbol of women’s ambitions in a world that restricts their social mobility. The image gives a sense of scale: It represents something enormous (the world) but is really something small (a piece of paper). Within the map, the enormous city of Seoul is a barely visible dot. Eunyoung yearns to visit countries without significant Korean populations. Mother understands the implication that her daughter wishes to escape constricting social conventions imposed on women in Korea. The map suggests that women’s talents and ambitions are large, but discrimination and societal pressures shrink their dreams down to a dot.

Ramen Noodles

On the evening of the day when Jiyoung has her first period, her sister and mother argue about unequal portions of ramen noodles. The brother’s disproportionate share symbolizes the preferential treatment of male children in Korea. The brother serves himself a large helping of ramen. Eunyoung chides him for serving himself before their mother—who prepared the meal—and for taking an unfair quantity of food. She serves herself by taking half of the noodles from his plate. Their mother then takes noodles from her own plate and gives them to her son. Eunyoung objects. She sees her mother’s sacrifice as indicative of gender hierarchy in the home. Their mother defends herself, but Eunyoung continues, pointing out that only the girls are expected to do household chores.

In bed that night, Jiyoung associates ramen noodles with the unfair treatment of girls in general: “She thought about menstruation and ramen. About ramen and sons. Sons and daughters. Sons and daughters and chores” (49). The ramen portions symbolize normalized gender disparities that are instituted within the home and later enacted throughout society. Her private reflection associating “menstruation and ramen” reinforces the gendered quality of the symbol. The scene ends with an assurance that a few days later, her sister provided her with a pack of sanitary pads. As with the dinner table argument about ramen and chores and fairness, Eunyoung protects her sister, providing a critical model of female solidarity.

Statistics and Data

Cho Nam-Joo’s recurring use of statistical evidence is a motif supporting the theme of shared experiences among women. Jiyoung’s story is typical of women in contemporary South Korea. To prove it, Cho grounds the narrative, at every phase, in research-supported data points. This motif allows the novel to develop into a hybrid literary form: a fictional narrative that presents a factual account of social phenomena. It’s the rare novel that can be cited for statistical evidence.

The unusual motif is explained when the final chapter reveals that the narrator is Jiyoung’s psychiatrist. It makes sense that a doctor would cite labor and social statistics in the account of a patient’s condition. He acknowledges that Jiyoung’s case illuminates the gender inequities women face in South Korea. The psychiatrist, like the reader, is given a view of shared female experience through a combination of storytelling and research.