Unique, Respond to the Book, p.252~287

Sorry being late ㅠㅠ I forgot to bring the book home last week so I couldn't write a post on the weekend. Fortunately, I had read to the end when I was reading last week's part, 200~252, and that's how I can sit here to write a post :)


1. p259

Just help him, Papa. Just help him. He was just hungry, Papa. He's going to die.
He's going to die anyway. /He's so scared, Papa.
The man squatted and looked at him. I'm scared, he said. Do you understand? I'm scared.
The boy didn't answer. He just sat there with his head bowed, sobbing.
You're not the one who has to worry about everything.
The boy said something but he couldnt understand him. What? he said.
He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.

Umm, some might think that the man is not behaving here, but well, I think the man is doing an understandable thing. Of course, the man left the thief to die when he didn't really need to. But what the thief did to the man and the boy is devastasting enough to kill them eventually. Imagine the shock and despair the man might have felt when he found out that they were robbed! If you don't have any supply on the road in this world, then you die. The man got so upset that he did the same thing, which is letting one die on the road, to the thief, and it makes sense to me quite a bit. Even if it's not a good man's thing to do, it's still what typical man of this world would do.

And the boy saying that he is the one to worry about everything made me be more sure that the boy is a special one. He's like Jesus, who took over all the sins of human race and died for them. The boy is a pure and sacred sprit who sympathizes with others' agony and pain. ... But a minute ago, writing the quote up there, I imagined that maybe, the author wanted to say something there, that we should all take care of each other. The boy does not need to be a special figure. The author could have wanted to say that the boy's worrying all the things is a right thing to do and we should follow him. Even if the situation that surrounds us is terrible, we should not be selfish, we should keep listening to others' words.


2. p262, 266

He needed vitamin D for the boy or he was going to get rickets. (p262)

He took a clamp from the kit and caught the needle in the jaws and locked them and set about suturing the wound. He worked quickly and he took no great pains about it. (p266)

Reading these, I thought that maybe the man had been a doctor. I had suggested that he might have been one, but well, at that time, I was not sure, and most importantly, there was the man's saying that he is not a doctor. However, this time, I think that the possibility increased. How could the man know that if you do not take enough vitamin D, you get rickets? How could he suture the wound with the needle so skillfully if he hadn't been a doctor? ... Yeah, it's not an important thing, whether he was a doctor or not, but still, it interested me :)


3. p275

He turned and looked at the boy. Standing with his suitcase like an orphan waiting for a bus.

It's a foreshadowing, isn't it, the boy looking like an orphan? It foreshadows that the man will die and the boy will be left alone...

4. p278, 283

You have to carry the fire. / I dont know how to. / Yes you do. / Is it real? The fire? / Yes it is. /Where is it? I dont know where it is. / Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it. (p278)

How do I know you're one of the good guys? / You dont. You'll have to take a shot. / Are you carrying the fire? / Am I what? / Carrying the fire? / Yeah, we are. (p283)

Carrying the fire appeared again~ It is the momentum of the boy's life. His purpose of life is to carry the fire. And he has the fire in him. I think that means the boy is carrying humanity with thim. The fire is the heritage of human race and I think that is humanity. And it's not only the boy who carries that fire. Everybody, Every human being does. So it's important for us to keep living. We need to keep living, keep carrying the fire and deliver it to the next generation.

Carrying the fire is also used to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. I don't know whether the guy the boy met and followed really understood what the boy is saying, but still, he agreed that he's carrying the fire and that drove the boy to follow him.


5. The ending.

I like this ending. Of course, it's not the happiest ending we can have, because the man die (!!) but still, considering the situation, it's a happy ending. The boy won't die, at least. He met a new group to follow. He won't stick to the death body of the man, but he will continue to carry the fire. He will keep his journey and that's what makes the novel a happy one.