A Temporary Marriage
Abuse and self-harm both play a role here, with Mrs. Shin both asking Mr. Rhee to hit her in one instance and asking her ex-husband if he beats his wife in another. The affect of these things manifests in a lot of self-loathing, as seen in the ending with Mrs. Shin cutting herself with a pair of scissors, noting that “the pain erased all grief, stripped her of camouflage.” (23)
Failed relationships are present throughout the story. Mrs. Shin and her ex-husband, Mr. Rhee and his family. The aftermath of going through something like this is explored through both of these characters and their attempts to cop.
One of the primary ways they do this is by sort of pretending that they are in a functional relationship together. This relationship is only an act for both of them though, as it’s made clear that what they feel for each other is nothing approaching love.
The relationship between Mrs. Shin and her daughter is the center of the story, the thing that motivates her choices throughout. In the end Yuri is young enough that, if she remembers her mother at all she doesn’t remember her fondly. She’s firmly sided with her father in the split, in a way that very much give the impression of a child simply believing what their remaining parent has told them.
At the Edge of the World
Mark’s characterization makes him seem very concerned with always wanting to be the smartest person in the room, to the point of asking his mother to buy him glasses to make him look “more intellectual.” The way he withholds sharing his facts and trivia when upset with people proves its use to him is as a tool rather than being from a genuine desire to learn. It serves to contrast Mark, who is a child with a child’s idea of what it means to be smart, versus his father, who is shown to have actually lived and suffered in life and thus probably knows a fair bit more than his son.
The idea of being stuck living in the past runs through the story, primarily because of Mark’s father. He seems to dwell on the experiences he’s had in life and the loved ones he’s lost, in a way that leaves people around him unsympathetic. His wife berates him on page 42, saying “You think too much. He’s dead. They’re all dead. Just don’t think!”
Similarly frustrated with his father’s way of being stuck in the past, Mark resolves to live for the future. He lays elaborate plans for the life he’s going to lead and thinks that he’ll never allow anything bad to happen to him, an outlook on the future that is very much in keeping with the childish ways he tries to present himself as knowledgeable.
Mark’s relationship with Chanhee is a part of that future he envisions for himself. Their relationship, like Mark’s attempts at seeming intelligent, seems to be born out of a child’s idea of what having a future and being successful looks like. They only briefly entertain the notion of possible complications when Chanhee begins questioning the treatment of Asian people in America on page 37.
The Pastor’s Son
The Goose Father
The Salaryman
Drifting House
A Small Sorrow
The Believer
Beautiful Women