Week 9: Yumi and Her Identity Struggle

    Yumi feels torn between her identity and how the world around her treats her based on said identity. I don’t think that her dislike for being Korean has anything to do with any intrinsic differences between a Korean and Japanese person (though it’s possible she feels that way based on everything she’s been told), but the socioeconomic differences one just so happens to be born into based on their race at the time. It is hard to see any benefits or pride in one’s identity if they are constantly chastised and seen as inferior for it. I think her description of Japan as a beloved but cold stepmother stems from the idea that Japan is her home, no matter how terribly she is treated. She would like to be “liked” by the stepmother in the sense that she wants to be financially stable and feel respected and safe with her identity, but knows it is unlikely. Even so, most of her experiences that revolve around being Korean are negative– so it’s not surprising that she feels there is no reason to live there. These statements reflect colonialism in the fact that a once beloved culture can be reduced to a burden when a more powerful group oppresses them. Keeping an identity can prove difficult and even impractical when one would be better off to pretend they aren’t even Korean in this case.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 13, 2023 at 9:49 PM

    Hi Andrew, nice thoughts. Just like words of love and positivity can be ingrained and leave lasting effects as you discussed in your other post this week, derisive and demeaning words will leave lasting scars on someones identity and how they view themselves, especially when they see all of the lies told about them reflected in an unfair society.

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