Human Acts by Han Kang

Although the Gwangju Uprising was a pivotal moment in South Korea’s fight for democracy, it is not very widely known due to government censorship and misinformation campaigns of the time. Han Kang’s novel, Human Acts, explores themes of humanity following the death of  Dong-Ho, a young boy, amid the violent uprising protesting against martial law. The novel is split up into six chapters, each told by a new person affected by this tragedy and showing how far the aftershocks of such an event can reach through their unique perspectives. The first chapter, told from the perspective of “The Boy”, Dong-Ho, sets the scene by describing the bleak conditions left after the soldiers retreated from the city. Dong-Ho, along with high school and university students, is watching over the bodies left behind and helping family members identify them. The mood becomes tense as the civilian militia

prepares for the army to reenter the city that night. Because Dong-Ho is so young, the others convince him to go home to try to survive the massacre they are expecting from the army. The novel goes on to hear from various others, like Dong-Ho’s best friends, his mother, an editor, a factory girl, and a prisoner, each connected to him in their own way. One major theme explored in this book is the human soul and what happens to it after death. This is shown most in the chapter narrated by Dong-Ho’s best friend, Jeong-Dae. Jeong-Dae is killed by the soldiers as the uprising first breaks out, and his body is thrown into a pile by the soldiers along with the rest of the dead. By using his voice after his death, it represents how those resisting martial law cannot just be erased by being killed. This is also important commentary on the censorship occurring at the time from the government. The restrictions put on the press and literature by the government at this time are a large reason why the Gwangju Uprising is known so little. By limiting free speech, the government is able to impose martial law as well as other extreme measures without having many significant ideas of dissent and resistance spread. Another theme that is often visited in the novel is that of how being part of a crown can change someone’s mentality and their actions. There are many scenes throughout the uprising and after where crowds are depicted as one being thinking and moving the same, erasing the individuality of each person. An additional aspect of this theme is how someone’s mentality changes within a crowd. In the chapter “The Prisoner”, the character reflects on fighting in the uprising and the bravery and invincibility he felt being a part of the crowd. Throughout the novel, this is presented as both a positive and a negative trait of humans. In one example, it gives the prisoner the strength to keep fighting for a cause, but on the other hand, it causes some to act in ways that go against their morality and harm others. The Gwangju Uprising also had a long-lasting effect on the identity of the city and its citizens. Gwangju is seen as a symbol against authoritarian governments and is a “sacred space of democratization”. Its citizens take immense pride in the legacy their city has as the beginning of democratization in South Korea, but many others oppose this view and tend to downplay the event. This is in part due to the limited media coverage and misinformation surrounding the event as a result of the government-enforced censorship at the time. Overall, I think reading Human Acts provided me with a great opportunity to learn more about a historical event I was previously unaware of, while also exploring a lot of human themes relevant to the majority of human actions.