Author: Yi Munyeol
notes
- First-person
- Han Pyongt’ae
- Initial attitude of superiority
- Chooses to fight because he judges the dynamic by his own worldview of justice
- Everyone else’s is already distorted
- Change in perspective due to the bitterness of being looked down on
- Reason turns to violence and seeking vengeance
- Experience mirrors his father’s
- Om Sokdae
- Why does he have so much power?
- Relies on group and followers to maintain control
- Especially toward untrustworthy outsider
- Self-perpetuating cycle of power (22)
- Why does Om Sokdae make Han Pyongt’ae his right hand man in Our Twisted Hero?
- Perhaps he respects his fight
- Does he hide his secret from him to avoid rebellion or to project a new image to an outsider?
- All the other kids know he cheats on his exams except for Pyongt’ae (until he finds out himself)
- They all know his image is false except for Pyongt’ae, who views him as an equal at some point
- All the other kids know he cheats on his exams except for Pyongt’ae (until he finds out himself)
- Turning from rebel to accomplice? (71)
- Pyongt’ae’s Father
- Encouraging him to be part of the system
- Continuation of the cycle
- School is a mirror of society within a confined space
- Power struggle, refusing to yield to one another (7)
- Groupthink—fear of going against the crowd (86)
- Outsider ignorant of in-group norms: confusion, alienation, complete loss (10)
- Hazing and initiation
- Taming the dissenter
- Disrupted by teacher’s authority
- Strength in numbers and coalition, overcoming Sokdae’s isolation tactics (97)
- Psychopathological control tactics (61)
- Teacher represents ideology and the strength of it
- Strength in numbers and coalition, overcoming Sokdae’s isolation tactics (97)
- Sokdae is a singular power figure filling the power vacuum of proper governance
- Old teacher was weak authority figure
- The new teacher acts as a balancing force, as he does not end up creating lasting change in the end. He merely fills the power vacuum that Sokdae took advantage of—their old teacher was too weak to make an impact. The students sense that the winds have shifted, and thus follow the new, dominant ideology of democracy only to secure their position in classroom society.
- In the end, the children all ride the wave of power (100)
- Not taking responsibility for their own situation (101)
- Fear is a tool for control
- Outsider ignorant of in-group norms: confusion, alienation, complete loss (10)
- Wedge (24): first attempt at revolution
- Bribery
- Achievement
- Rumors
- Crucial factors for Sokdae’s rule (29)
- Timing
- Patience
- Image
- Timing
- Looking down on informers or those who rebel against hidden rule (43)
- Is force necessary for absolute order? Democracy assumes all people are capable of reason, but in reality, some people choose not to exercise it for various reasons (50)
- Stricter laws on those shunned, favor to those with power, connections, or who blindly follow
- Proxies and under-the-table methods of violence to hide extent of it (62)
- Ensuring ignorance
- Turning others against victim
- Framing: from human rights to favor
- Breaking someone down to change their beliefs and worldviews (73)
- Revolution (74)
- Revenge, heroism (78)
- Strategic submission
- Instability due to new leaders having ties to old regime (107)
- Teacher punishes weakness and submission (109)
- Tendency to crave authoritarianism in times of stagnation (112)
highlights
It drenched me in a kind of melodramatic disillusion a young prince lately deposed might feel. – p. 2
This was the first time I had heard the name Om Sokdae. It was engraved on my memory from the moment I heard it, perhaps because of the odd tone of voice the boy used to pronounce it. It was as if he were using the name of someone very great and noble, as if respect and obedience for such a person were only fitting. This made me shrink again, but I couldn’t give in now. One hundred and twenty eyes were watching me. – p. 8
Note: Defiance as a form of image maintenance, pride
What happened next was a freakish shift in my consciousness. Suddenly, I had the feeling that I was doing something very wrong, that I was holding out in defiance of a teacher after he had called on me. This overwhelming illusion of deliberate refusal to give in to a teacher may have been produced by the boys’ nonstop shrieks of laughter. – p. 10
Om Sokdae was an extraordinary boy. In a brief moment, not only did he wash clean any feeling I had of being brought to him against my will, but he then freed me from my disappointment in the behavior of our teacher. – p. 11
In this way, the teacher endorsed what seemed to me to be flagrantly inappropriate behavior on Sokdae’s part. – p. 15
What had happened violated completely the principles of reason and freedom by which I had been reared all my life. I had not yet experienced directly the full brunt of Sokdae’s order, but I had more than a vague presentiment of the irrationality and violence I would have to endure after accepting it. It all seemed like a horrible pre-arranged plan that was destined to become reality. – p. 15
It was clear that there was something wrong, that there was enormous injustice in a system founded on irrationality and violence. – p. 16
As a result, instead of learning how to deal with the impending fight, I was left confused about the very existence of the injustice itself, and this was crucial in deciding whether or not a fight was necessary. – p. 18
Persecution and discrimination invariably and only came when Sokdae stood some distance away. Boys who didn’t appear to be at all friendly with Sokdae picked fights with me over trifling things. – p. 22
I have to respect the power the children have given Sokdae. – p. 51
“I wouldn’t have laid a hand on you if I hadn’t thought it was absolutely necessary. I could have excused the switching of the exam papers because you were pressured by Sokdae. But when I heard how you felt all this time, I just couldn’t take it. What was rightfully yours was taken from you and you weren’t even angry. You bent to unjust power and you weren’t ashamed. And the best students in the class, too. If you continue to live like that, the pain you will bear in the future will be so great, the beating I gave you today won’t even compare. It’s horrible to even imagine the kind of world you’ll create when you become grown-ups. Now kneel down on the dais, back on your heels, hands up, and think about what I’ve said.” – p. 95