Character Clues
Character Analysis
Thoughts and Opinions
This is the major way we get to understand not just our main gal Young Ju, but also the whole book. After all, the book is written entirely around Young Ju's first-person narration.
This means that, in addition to hearing Young Ju's thoughts and opinions on herself, we get to see how she characterizes the people around her. Take her new teacher, for example. Through Young Ju, we get that her teacher has "cloud hair" and "is a giant person like in the long-ago stories Halmoni used to tell [her] so [she] would be a good girl. [Her] teacher looks like the old witch who ate bad children for dinner" (8.5).
Of course, because Young Ju's just a kid here her thoughts and opinions can be wrong too, which is why it's a nice surprise (for both her and us) that her teacher turns out to be really nice instead: "Up close the witch teacher does not look so mean. The small chair makes her knees almost touch her chin. I smile. When the witch teacher smiles back I think maybe she will not eat me" (8.18).
So what we get is a double-whammy: we get how refreshingly honest and naïve Young Ju's perspective can be, and we see how other characters around her acquire more depth and fullness too.
Family Life
Roles, roles, roles—that's what a family is all about. What roles we play in a family can seriously influence who we become or who we're expected to become.
For Young Ju, family life is all about trying to be a good daughter and older sister, which often mean the same thing. This is why she bugs Joon about ditching class:
"Joon, you know Uhmma and Apa want you to study and get good grades. What are you going to do when report cards come around?" (27.25)
Sound like a nag? Well what do you expect from an older sister who's been told from the day her brother was born that "[she] will have to learn how to be a good older Uhn-nee. It is [her] responsibiltiy to help [her] Uhmma take care of him" (10.42)?
Likewise, Uhmma is all about sticking to her role as a good wife and mother. Of course, for Uhmma being a good wife doesn't necessarily mean being a good mother since she ends up staying with and defending her abusive husband for way too long. She finally owns up to this when she apologizes to Young Ju for defending Apa:
I said things that are not true. I blamed you for my mistake. Uhmma shakes her head. I blamed you for trying to save me... Now it is my turn to do the right thing for you. For us. I told Gomo that we could take care of ourselves. My strong children and I will be fine without Apa. (29.27-29)
So one way to look at these characters is to consider how much they learn to break away from what they think their duties are to the family in order to become better, stronger versions of themselves—both within the family and for their own happiness and well being.
Actions
Actions are pretty much the primary way we learn about certain characters in the book, and especially with Apa who is completely defined by how he moves. Usually, this means we know Apa by how he's beating someone—he slaps, kicks, and pushes, all of which show us that Apa is a violent man.
But we also get these subtle scenes about Apa:
Apa notices Spencer's movements and gives him a wide, only-for-guests smile. "Shu-pen-cher," Apa says. "Time you go home now. Joon Ho back soon..." Apa waits for Spencer to disappear and then turns back to Joon. The smile flies off his lips faster than a door slamming. (16.46-50)
Apa's actions can be fake, and he definitely knows how to pretend to be a nice guy, when he's actually about to whoop Joon Ho for disobeying him. So Apa isn't just a violent guy—he's a violent guy who knows how to contain his violence just enough so that only his family gets to see him that way.
Actions: they're all about showing us how these characters really are.