Pretty Lunar

Eveline, By James Joyce, 1904 Rate : 9/10  Eveline showed a clear ending, unlike other storys by James Joyce that I've read.  Eveline  could not escape from paralysis easily, and in the end she chose to remain in Ireland.   Looking at her story, I came up with the word "gaslighting". It means dominating others' mind by  gradually  manipulating her/his thought worse off. It seems that the act of gaslighting still existed before hundred years too. If she knew what gaslighting was, and if she had recognized that she was being gaslighted, she would have escaped without being trapped by words that constrain her, such as "Derevaun Seraun!", which means "The end of pleasure is pain."      A person cannot live without change. We can develop and live normally when we constantly challenge new things in search of happiness and move forward. However, Eveline is bound by the historical and historical environment, unable to change and stagnate in a pa...

Araby , by James Joyce, 1914 Rate : 9/10   Everyone must have had a crush at least once. We would have thought that we can do anything for our love, and we would have tried to get closer somehow. The story seemed to illustrate such subtle feelings through the child's perspective. It was so easy to sympathize, and through lots of devices in the story, I was able to immerse myself in it even more deeply, although story is short.  Specifically, I really liked the part which the protagonist felt disappointed when he went the dark Bazzar, where he'd been looking forward to. I came up with the new word  in Korean  "hyeonta(현타)", I thought it is the  word matched  really  well with the protagonist's disappointment realized through the light-out Araby, which he really expected to go. I felt that KMLA and Araby are similar, because I really expected and looked forward to go it, but after admission, I realized the harsh reality in here. So I could sympathized in...

The sisters, by James Joyce, 1904 Rate : 7/10  ' The Sisters' contains many themes, but in fact, it seems difficult to understand exactly what it is about. The story told by the perspective of a child and deals with the death of a priest named Father Fylnn.    What reason was Father Flynn paralyzed and suffered mental distress? I don't know exactly, but I thought that some oppression and pain of Catholicism, which was prevalent in Irish society at the time, and the writer's gaze on it might have been seen as his "paralysis". His guilt and pain in the corrupt act of trading a priest, depicted as a word 'simony', led to paralysis and would have kept him in an unstable state of mind until he passed away. So the child would feel a sense of freedom after his death, even he relied on him, and I thought it could be understood as freedom for corruption and oppression.   It was difficult to understand because it ended in open endings and there were so many diff...

Gooseberries ,  By Anton Chekhov (1898) Rate : 8 / 10  Gooseberries, which Nikolai grew on the land he had worked hard for about 20 years, came as an uncomfortable taste for Ivan and a sweet taste for Nikolai himself.    Each person has a different standard of happiness and a different way of pursuing happiness.  For Nikolai, preparing his own land was a way of achieving happiness, and for Ivan, enjoying nature as itself was a way of enjoying his own happiness.  Since two did not understand each other, so I think that the taste of gooseberries might have felt different.     Nikolai's thoughts are very similar to those of people in modern society. Before one knows, material has become the standard for determining happiness, and people struggle to prepare their own homes and land. In addition, there were people who were satisfied by comparing what they had with what others did not, and who gained a happiness from the superiority is induced...

The lady with the dog ,  By Anton Chekhov (1899) Rate : 6.5 / 10  When I read the ending of the story, I was quite embarrassed and disappointed. It seemed like it was about to start, but it was over. However, through this composition, I think I was able to imagine more. There will be many Gurov and Anna in the world. They will be in conflict between the life seen by others and the inner side not seen by others, and many people will be agonizing over their duplicity, even if it is not the story of an affair couple.  It would be fun to get out of the everyday life that locked in frame, and try a new deviation. However, the gaze of reality is not so soft, so even  though instinctive desires could be filled, I wondered what choice they would have made in an open ending that the deeper they fall into each other, the less proud they will be to the world. Is this belated love just a twisted fate or a just instinctive and unethical desire? 

The student, By Anton Chekhov (1894) Rate : 7 / 10     While reading the story, I thought Ivan was a unique person. Until he realizes that the present and the past are  flowing and  connected by an unbroken chain, he can be seen as a hero himself in the process of telling Bible stories and making widows shed tears. In particular, the stage of "The Road Back," which is my part of the 12 stages of hero’s journey, can be seen as emphasizing Ivan's realization by setting a warm and beautiful background in contrast to the beginning of the story set in a cold and dark night.  Also, I think the writer reflects  his hope about the Russian society.  Like Peter, who denied the Jesus three times but eventually realized him and shed tears, I thought Vasilisa shed tears imagining future and present of Russia, which she denied the cold and gloomy past but would become warm again like the ending of a novel.