Finding Junie Kim

Book 2 provides historical context for the Korean War through the lens of Doha, Junie’s grandfather. Revealing the historical significance of Doha’s tale, June 28, 1950, is the day that North Korean forces captured Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

Each chapter in the Book begins with Doha’s perspective of events in Korea when he was 12 years old and ends with a short conversation between Junie and her elderly grandfather. This structure reinforces the didactic tone of Book 1. Grandpa clarifies major concerns for Junie in these moments of commentary, endorsing her moral/ethical and emotional responses as appropriate or questionable. This approach allows the author to guide the responses of young readers as well. Meanwhile, moments of guidance within the main narrative action of Book 2 take place between Doha and his father, creating a parallel between Doha and Junie and establishing narrative links in the plot despite the distinct settings and chronology.

Book 2 also provides ancestral context for Junie, who sometimes feels isolated from her first-generation Korean family members and community. Doha’s story includes prolific use of Korean words and phrases as well as descriptions of setting and cultural significances that highlight the diversity of the representation. This provides sorely needed context and familiarity with the language for Junie, whose Korean language skills are limited. It expands her awareness of her Korean culture and ancestry by expanding beyond her grandparents’ home as she imagines the story she hears. This also reinforces the author’s purpose of providing diverse books for neglected populations, providing a Korean-specific narrative that embraces thorough, realistic representations of Korean history and identity.

Doha’s story is set in Seosan, a small town in rural South Korea. It begins with the idyllic image of Doha and his friends swimming in a large pond at the base of a mountain chain. Distant machine gun fire disrupts this pastoral scene, creating a contrast that becomes a metaphor for Doha’s life disrupted and changed forever by the Korean War. This scene concludes by illustrating the growing strife between average Koreans—neighbors and friends—forced to choose sides in a war of ideology to survive.

Like his father, Doha attempts to mediate the irrational anger that rises in the face of an atmosphere of trauma and fear. His friend Gunwoo is a symbol of Koreans positioned alongside American/ROKA (Democratic) forces, while his friend Sunjin represents Koreans aligned with Russian/KPA (Communist) forces. Both friends are forced into their positions to survive, though Gunwoo demonstrates the misplaced, irrational hatred that arose in response to the violence and trauma that Koreans suffered as they became caught up in the war.

Like many episodes in Book 2, Doha understands the conflict more clearly by observing adult interactions, such as the community meeting in his family’s courtyard. Dr. Han inadvertently explains this symbolic significance to Doha when he points out that both leaders within the conflict are corrupt and unconcerned with how the war will impact the lives of Koreans. The war is really a war of ideology between America and Russia. This symbolism and the didactic explication of events within the narrative provide necessary historical context for readers and foreground the theme of Conflict, War, and Ideology.

This scene also continues to develop the motif of the Conflict between Traditional Culture and Modernization as the meeting begins with complaints about the loss of their cultural identity, a common complaint that Doha subsequently disregards as unimportant. This motif develops further in Chapter 9 when Minki dies from a ruptured appendix, with her mother taking her to Dr. Han only after the local Shaman fails to heal her daughter.

In Chapter 9, Doha also becomes increasingly aware of the war, which continues to encroach on the everyday lives of South Koreans. His previous experience is limited to rumors. When injured ROKA soldiers are brought to his father’s clinic, the brutal reality of war is real for the first time. He sees young men with missing arms and legs. His father also becomes caught up in the demands to treat soldiers, prioritizing medicine, which is already in short supply for the war effort.

Chapter 10 illustrates life under North Korean rule when the KPA invades. The KPA brutally murders the soldiers whom Dr. Han and Doha’s family worked to help recover. This episode includes a discussion of issues of international and national war that shape the conflict in Korea. International law protects prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention; the KPA treats enemy soldiers as citizens committing war crimes and treason, providing no protection.

This distinction develops the symbolism established at the beginning of Book 2 when Gunwoo no longer sees Sunjin as a friend because he lives among Red sympathizers. The decision to treat the opposing force as citizens while treating captured soldiers so brutally suggests Koreans treat neighbors and friends more cruelly than enemies during the war. Meanwhile, Doha’s shock and confusion contrast the irrational hatred of war/conflict with logical, moral behavior.

The picture that Doha paints in this chapter is brutal and ugly, and the shift in perspective at the end of the chapter from Doha to Grandpa allows a break in the narrative that acknowledges this within a generic context. Emotionally trying chapters in this Book conclude with a discussion between Grandpa and Junie, with queries about her mental state and ability to continue. These didactic conclusions also serve as a fictional content warning for readers.

Chapter 12 is a more general development of rising action within Doha’s story. It depicts the harsh realities of occupied life, which include daily violence, hunger, and a pervasive atmosphere of fear. It is a stark juxtaposition of the beginning of Book 2 when the boys swim and play together. Meanwhile, Chapter 13 illustrates the precarious position of Korean citizens when the KPA is suddenly gone and the ROKA returns. The people of Seosan soon realize there is no difference between the brutal realities of life under the authority of the KPA or the ROKA, which reinforces Dr. Han’s earlier statement about the corruption of both sides.

The climax of Doha’s Book occurs in Chapter 14 when he is beaten for protecting Yuni from ROKA violence. Yuni’s attempt to help her fellow Koreans is punished, reinforcing Junie’s views early in the novel. It appears that doing what is right is punished rather than rewarded. Grandpa’s silence when Junie comments about this allows readers to draw their own conclusions before a more didactic position is established at the conclusion of Book 2.

Book 2 ends with Dr. Han continuing to stand up for his fellow Koreans despite the risk this entails for his family, prioritizing morality and ethics over the safety and security that silence offers. Grandpa reiterates this to Junie.