Discussion points for Chapter 3 of “Human Acts” 

1. What happened “At four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon” to the editor Kim Eun-sook? How would you describe the way this brutal act is described at the beginning of chapter 3?  

   • precise document of the 7 slaps, physical and brutal
   • tension of forget and remember -> to resolve
   • third person limited narrative

2. What is the narrative point of view? Why do you think it shifts again from the previous chapters?

   • Third person limited; fragmented structure

3. How many slaps does Eun-sook receive and what is the effect of having each enumerated and separated?  

   • 7 slaps; stop counting at 5
   • separated/fragmentation: holistic view, eruption of memory (chonological order, time flow forward, but stuck in the past, as PTSD)

4. What are the circumstances that lead to Eun-Sook being hit?  

   • As an editor to handle manuscript

5. Kim Eun-sook questions why she was abused during her interrogation while her boss remained untouched during his. Evaluate the difference in treatment by law enforcement between these two characters. To what extent do you think the violence inflicted on Eun-sook is linked to her gender? What are the implications? 

   • Gender; Hierachy of having low education background
   • Boss using “Slap” instead of “Punch”: indicate dominance over vulnerable; brutality to the weak

6. What is Kim Eun-sook’s backstory and how is she connected to Dong-Ho?  

   • classmate with Dong-Ho; participant of uprising, saw Dong-ho was shot. Survival guilt, rememberance of Dong-ho, for cannot do anything to save Dong-ho

7. Why do you think Eun-sook was reminded of the fountain in Gwangju when the interrogator slapped the manuscript on the table? What connections does the fountain have to the present moment in this chapter? What might the fountain symbolize? How is this reminiscent of what Dong-Ho says about the national anthem and the Korean flag over the corpses?  

   • pathetic fallacy: Fountain as a symbol of routine; turning on means erasing/not recognizing the massacre
   • the fountain represented the routine past; keeping on means the protestors/the dead were forgotten

8. What are other signs in this chapter that State oppression and violence still exist (e.g. censorship, plain clothes police)? What does it convey about the post-Gwangju political climate in South Korea in 1985? 

   • torture; censorship: redacted menuscript(whole page black) of the play(art)
   • symbolism of government silencing voices: censored manuscript
   • government rejection to turn off fountain

9. What is the effect of the italicized questions? Are any of the lines repeated?  

   • amphasis

10. Cite two examples where the author uses imagery/highly poetic language and comment on their effects.  

    • imagery torture and brutality

11. The excerpt from the introduction of the non-fiction treatise examining the psychology of crowds is an example of intertextuality. What purpose does it serve?  

12. In the final scene (Section entitled “Snowflakes”), Eun-sook attends the play, wondering if the police will shut it down. However, the actors mouth or scream the censored lines. What is the effect? How does Eun-sook respond? Why? What might the snowflakes symbolize? 

    • although news censored, the truth were in their memory
    • resistance against oblivion of government
    • snowflakes similar to funeral banners, coldness and white as death

13. How is the power of art to reveal the truth portrayed in this chapter? How does it link to larger themes in the novel? 

    • Eun-sook’s struggle and suffering from the play manuscript, the weight of truth
    • truth survive despite in fragmentation

14. Do you think the author tells the story in chronological order? Also consider how within the chapters there are abrupt narrative shifts between the past and present. What do these contrasts communicate to the reader? 

    • same with 18

15. What is the purpose of the epithets (an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned) to introduce the characters rather than referring to them by name (e.g., “The Boy”, “The Boy’s Friend”, “The Editor”, “The Prisoner”)?   

    • amphasis on perspective
    • expressionist theater (universalize the character; deepen psychological intensity), more insight/empathy to subjective experience

16. What is polyvocal narration? How do we see this technique evidenced in the novel?  

    • narrative from different perspectives, get more nuance from experience
    • different trauma, detach from normal life, and healing

17. In what ways is the “banality of evil” (Hannah Arendt) depicted in this chapter?  

18. How is the tension between remembering and forgetting explored in this chapter? How is this parallel with the juxtaposition of violence and normalcy?  

    • rapid switchover and distortion in time: the instant slap and the long memory/present. Juxtaposition of present and the traumatic memory (slaps).
    • The routine were seemed like everything was recovering, but the mental aspect was not. Metaphor of recover on surface but internal trauma persists.
    • insomnia
    • refusal to forget the last slap: some pain cannot be forgot, remember the pain to gain deeper understanding to resolve

19. Where is evidence of Eun-sook’s trauma in this chapter?  

Discussion question: How does this chapter connect to the themes of national trauma, memory and violence?