Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel

When Jiyoung and Eunyoung move into their own room, their mother hangs a map of the world on the wall. She points out Seoul and observes that in a wide world, their city is just a tiny dot. Later, while Eunyoung is contemplating her college options, Mother looks at the map. Her daughters have marked it with stickers on countries they’d like to visit. Eunyoung’s stickers are on northern European countries selected because few Koreans live there.

The map is a symbol of women’s ambitions in a world that restricts their social mobility. The image gives a sense of scale: It represents something enormous (the world) but is really something small (a piece of paper). Within the map, the enormous city of Seoul is a barely visible dot. Eunyoung yearns to visit countries without significant Korean populations. Mother understands the implication that her daughter wishes to escape constricting social conventions imposed on women in Korea. The map suggests that women’s talents and ambitions are large, but discrimination and societal pressures shrink their dreams down to a dot.

On the evening of the day when Jiyoung has her first period, her sister and mother argue about unequal portions of ramen noodles. The brother’s disproportionate share symbolizes the preferential treatment of male children in Korea.