Korea

• Korea - written by McGahern
• Korea -

  Quotes -

  Memory:

  • ’Before if I asked him about the war, he’s draw fingers across his eyes as if to tear a spider web away’

  Deceit:

  • ‘You wouldn‘t think of throwing this country up altogether and go to America’

  Maturing:

  • ‘I knew my youth had ended’
  • ’It‘ll be my own funeral’
  • ‘Prepare myself to murder‘
• Korea -

  Summary -

  • Beginning: fathers flashback of execution in 1919
  • Money is tight so father suggests son emigrates to American
  • Son wants to wait for exams but father doesn’t see the use of ‘highfalutin‘ language
  • Last summer working on the river
  • Whilst preparing for another night on the river, overhears conversation between father and neighbour, realises father wants to ship him to America for money
• Korea -

  Context -

  • Absence of mother figure
  • Korea in comparison to US: Korea = fool of a country, US = big, expanding country
  • Father suffers from PTSD?
  • Son has a pure view of life that becomes tainted with age