The Island of Sea Women

Young-sook continues to lead her dive team but is irritated by the new restrictions the government has placed on the haenyeo. There is now a man who is in charge of the Village Fishery Association, and he tells them where and when they can dive. Young-sook reminds herself that she lives on an island ruled by goddesses yet thinks bitterly, “But as strong as we were and as much as we did, not one of us would ever be chosen to run the Village Fishery Association or be elected to Hado’s village council” (331). Korean culture is still firmly patriarchal.

During summer break, Joon-lee comes back from the university in Seoul. She is doing very well academically but shows no inclination to become a haenyeo. When Young-sook learns that her daughter is interested in sociology, she asks her to talk to the dive team as if it were a school project. Joon-lee is excited to interview a matrifocal collective to learn how it operates.

Shortly before she returns to school in the fall, Joon-lee asks to accompany Young-sook to Mi-ja’s house. The girl confesses that she promised to get something there that belongs to Mi-ja’s son, Yo-chan. In reality, the item is Mi-ja’s book of charcoal rubbings. Young-sook is horrified to learn that the two have become school chums and that Mi-ja sometimes takes them out to dinner. She makes Joon-lee promise never to see Mi-ja or her son again. Joon-lee grudgingly says she will try to avoid them, but Young-sook doesn’t believe her. She thinks, “Sometimes everything you do is as pointless and as ineffective as shouting into the wind” (334).

Over the years, Young-sook runs a profitable diving business. Her family has expanded, and she now has a compound of her own with many grandchildren in it. One day, she receives word that Joon-lee is coming home for a visit. When the girl arrives, she is riding on a motorcycle behind a man who turns out to be Yo-chan. The couple announces that they plan to be married and that Mi-ja will arrive shortly to make the arrangements.

Young-sook and Mi-ja have a tense encounter. The latter pleads for Young-sook not to ruin the wedding. She says, “A son-in-law is a guest for one hundred years, meaning forever. It is time for you to put aside your anger, so these two, who have no responsibility for the past, can be wed” (343). Mi-ja explains how she tried to atone for the disasters that befell Young-sook’s family. She was the one who got Joon-lee erased from the guilt-by-association records. Mi-ja struck a deal with her husband, who agreed to fix things if she would return from Hado to live with him in Seoul. He resumed abusing her after they were reunited, but at least Joon-lee’s future was assured.

Young-sook refuses to forgive even though the shaman and all her friends say it’s time to let the past die. She doesn’t attend her daughter’s wedding or visit after the young couple announces their decision to move to Los Angeles. Young-sook says, “For me, the pride of my life, my youngest daughter, was the branch who’d broken off in a way I never expected. By joining Mi-ja’s family, she had shattered my heart” (347). Young-sook receives periodic letters from America, but the government censors block out most of the text. She also receives letters from Mi-ja, but she doesn’t even open them. 

After Young-sook returns from the memorial, she takes out the packet of Mi-ja’s unopened letters and goes down to the beach to look at them. Most have been censored, and she can’t read much anyway. Inside many of the envelopes are the charcoal rubbings she and Mi-ja made together. Lost in thought, she is suddenly aware that Clara and her mother have come to sit beside her. They explain that Mi-ja wanted them to know Young-sook, and for Young-sook to know the truth about Mi-ja. Clara takes her earbuds and places them in Young-sook’s ears. The iPhone has a recording of Mi-ja explaining everything from her point of view.

Mi-ja explains how Sang-mun raped her that day when the two girls met him on the dock. When she confided this news to Young-sook’s grandmother, the old woman arranged a wedding. Forced into marriage, Sang-mun took out his rage on his wife and also on his son. The day of the massacre, Mi-ja believed Young-sook’s children would be better off dead than being abused in her household. Afterward, her husband was furious at her involvement and beat her badly enough to break her hip, which resulted in her limp. Mi-ja blames herself for her weakness throughout her life and says she deserved the punishment she received. More than anything else, she wants to be forgiven by Young-sook. The old diver finally relents now that she knows the full story. She invites Clara and her mother to swim in the ocean with her.