Victim Of Circumstances

The very real reminder of Dongho’s actions and loss of innocence is represented by his psychosomatic limp. This intermittent limp reminds him of the summer in Gwanju in 1980 when he accidently shot a young woman. This date represents the day when his nation failed him. The day he lost the right to be with his first love. The very idea of Sun-in is symbolic. She represents this goal that Yongho strives to become worthy of, yet he can never reach because society has soiled him. The peppermint candy is a constant reminder of what was and could never be. One could even suggest that the shooting of the student might actually be the symbolic shooting of Sun-im. He first mistook her for that scare girl, but as soon as he shot her, the possibility of a life with Sun-im was no longer possible. He is a killer; therefore torturing students isn’t a far cry. It could have been also seen as a displacement of anger. Had the students never revolted he might have never shot the girl. One can tell by the unbridled violence he applies to his victims. This fatalist idea that he is no longer worthy of the woman he first loved, therefore he is no longer a good person and gives himself the right commit violent and selfish acts. He tortures people, beats his wife and child and cheats on them. Despite his fatal mistake in the past, those actions are not warranted. One could almost suggest that he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder. His response to all this guilt inside of him could be outright violence. One could even stipulate that this story is a never-ending loop, especially when he says that the place where he’s about to picnic seems familiar. At the end he sheds a tear as if he was aware of the pain to come .This idea is heavily tainted with determinism, because several men have found themselves in his situation and might have committed the same mistake, however there is no guarantee that they would have committed all the violence Yongho has. Yongho is a victim of his circumstances, yes. However does it justify his selfish actions? Was he ever really a man? This hyper masculine persona he has taken on to protect himself from the harm that might possibly befall him?