Asian Studies

    All societies and cultures will experience growth and modernization. Unless the society is completely cut off from the rest of the world, then global influences of modernization will occur. In todays environment, such changes will be quick and significant. In prior decades, growth was slower and a bit more shocking in terms of its impact.

    The emergence of changes in the modernization of Korea during the early part of the 20th century delivered some upheaval in the populace. The impact of such changes was found in many different components of the culture. In the realm of literature, we can see how such an impact was felt. This is evidenced in the short stories When the Buckwheat Blooms and The Shaman Painting. A close examination of these stories can reveal the impact of such changes prevalent with modernization as well as an undertone of resistance to such change.

Issues of growth, maturation, and the development into a new world have their conflicts. In When the Buckwheat Blooms, we discover the following passage about the character of Ho In the two decades that Ho had been peddling dry goods at the rural markets, he had rarely skipped Pongpyong in his rounds. He sometimes went to other towns. More regular than the moon, he tramped from one town to the next. He took pride in telling others that Chongju was his hometown, but he never seemed to go there. To Ho, home sweet home was the beautiful landscape along the roads that led him from one market town to the next.(89) In many ways, this is symbolic of the notion of modern growth. Specifically, the road represents the journey of such growth and the destinations are irrelevant. Or, per Ho, that is the perception that is arrived at and it can be considered a somewhat troubling perception. When we are more concerned with the journey as opposed to the destination, then we really are not concerned with the journey. Instead, we become lost in the miasma of the mind. At this point, those things that are external fail to have the appropriate impact one would expect.

    In Hos situation, it would seem his desire to enjoy the journey leads to him not really traveling on any journey. In other words, he is locked into the process of traveling staying outside the realm of the modern nature of the towns. In short, the towns may grow and progress in time. However, the changes in the roads are basically untouched beyond a superficial level. As such, he is able to hold onto the past by being more concerned with the roads than he is on the departure and destination points. This can lead to his becoming an unchanged man in an unchanging society. Does this benefit him in anyway While there may be issues of comfort in holding onto the old, such clinging to the past ultimately can lead to problem. Again, not changing in a world that does change can lead to scores of conflicts and problems.

    Similarly, such concepts find their way into the other word as well. Consider this lyricism in The Shaman Painting In one isolated corner of this village lived a sorceress people called Mohwa....Mohwas house was quite unlike the others in this hamlet. The house hid deep in the weeds that crowded a large yard encircled by a long rock wall which was crumbling in places like the ancient fortress wall that snaked along
the mountain ridge nearby. (37)

    The concept of a sorceress is never one we think of in the present tense. Rather, it is connected to concepts associated with folklore and the past. The notion that the sorceress hides in a home that is off the proverbial beaten path also maintains a symbolism of holding onto the past. By remaining deep in the woods, the sorceress is able to avoid moving into modern society. This allows the sorceress to maintain an existence in a world where such mythical beings are no longer thought to exist. Hence, she is able to survive in a changing society.

    It would be possible to look at Mohwa as a symbol of the traditional past trying to maintain relevance and existence in the changing world. This could be further symbolic of the cultural upheaval that may have been occurring in Korea at the time of the storys writing.

    In other ways, this can tie into the concept that people look towards nature as something outside the realm of the human world. While society may change and move forward into more modern and enlightened times, the concept of the sorceress remains something that holds onto the ancient past. In some ways, it is not an awkward concept to assume that Ho shares similarities with Mohwa as he, too, seemingly wishes to exist in a world that is transitory. By enjoying his time on the roads between two points he shares themes with Mohwa who lives off of the road. In essence, neither needs to join with the modern world although there will eventually come a time where they both will need to
accept the changes that surround them.

    The issue with modernity is that it has a tendency to creep up on societies. In some instances, modernization can occur with a speed and quickness that leaves others somewhat stunned and surprised. Often, this is the result of influences from foreign cultures creeping into a domestic bliss and altering it forever. In some instances, it is merely the result of new progress that changes a society. For example, an egalitarian society that is modified as a result of the winds of change may resist the changes. However, such resistance must give way to the obvious back that life and society must progress or forever fall behind.

    We can see this in the modernization of colonial Korea reflected in the two short stories. While the populace is not completely adverse to the advent of a new, modern society there is somewhat of a minor rejection of the changes. Resistance to change is understandable in any society. Namely, it is because while consistencies of the past will carry from generation to generation, the rapid changes can also cause certain aspects and components of the culture to disappear.

    While some of the younger generations might accept such a change because of the perceived freedoms that come with cultural and societal change and upheaval, a realization that the society the youth grew up with is being altered from their perceived expectations. This can sometimes create a significant alteration in their belief systems or their cultural comfort levels. It is such alterations that are common in both of these stories. In many ways, both tales deal with a common acceptance and rejection of the march towards a new modernization in Korean culture.

    The title of When the Buckwheat Blooms even hints at the change of an era and the dawn of something new. Buckwheat blooms when it starts to mature. At this point, the buckwheat has reached a point of its prime growth. Unfortunately, there is a negative symbolism that is at work here as well. Namely, once the buckwheat blooms it is picked and consumed. In short, it dies.

    In some ways, you could appropriate this decidedly negative image and apply it to the colonial world of Korea. As the colonial era dies and the modern one is born, the proverbial end of an era occurs. This can possess a certain bittersweet component that has its positives and its negatives. Namely, it is a positive thing that a society evolves but the components of it that are lost in the evolution can be missed. Again, this would be a bittersweet component to the notion of developing into a modern society. However, such changes are unavoidable.

    This connects to the notions of the antiquarian theme where time becomes synonymous with problems related to progression. A random order of cultural themes emerges from the linear progression of time, but the negatives it leaves in its wake will have an influence on the populace.

    With Ho, we learn of the loneliness of the unchanged man. He had gone into debt, and saving money was now out of the question. And thus began a hand-to-mouth existence as he journeyed from one market to the next.In the course of all his squandering, Ho had never managed to conquer a woman. The cold, heartless creatures-they have no use for me, he would think dejectedly. His only constant friend was the donkey.  (90) One could put forth the notion that the decision to stay outside the advent and development of a modern society has punished Ho. He is now condemned to a lonely existence because he has tied himself to an existence that is seeks to avoid the changing of time. In some ways, you could say that Mohwa suffers from the same fate being tied to the folklore concept of a sorceress. Either way, time progresses forward and both remain in their stunted past.

    To say that the society of Korea needs to avoid falling into such trappings would be an understatement. If we are to assume the passage of time coincides with a loss of understanding, we could say that we run the risk of losing a connection to the past and cultural identity that exists in the prior generations. Such a problem can exist within the overall framework of Koreas emergence from its colonial heritage into a more modern existence. Yes, there will always be some resistance on the parts of the populace to move forward with the progress of time.
However, it would not be an overstatement to say the bulk of the population would welcome such forward progress since it brings with it the benefits of the modernization of society. Progress may be rejected in some circles but the vast majority of the populace will embrace it thanks to the benefits that they can procure from such change. Really, if the vast majority of the population refused to accept change, change and modernization simply would not be able to effectively occur. There needs to be a willing embrace of it to be effective.

This is not to say that there are not desires to hold onto components of the past. The entire concept of Shaman paintings can reflect a desire to hold onto cultural artifacts of prior eras. With such Shaman paintings there is a connection to the natural world, rural areas, and conceptualizations that exist prior to modernization. In the aforementioned short stories, there is a bit of wallowing in the past which can prove problematic. However, honoring and remembering the past is not so difficult of a concept to embody in a positive manner. Again, the key is to honor the past but not hold onto it to a degree where progress becomes inhibited.

Such themes are present both in the short stories as well as in the actual history of Korea. As we are well aware, Korean society has modernized greatly thanks to its own internal developments and influences from the outside world. Such concepts and changes are reflected both in its historical texts as well as the aforementioned works of fiction that will present a clear indication of how the nations society was culturally impacted by such changes.

Within the literature of the era, we are able to see the cultural impact of such changes through the eyes of those that experience them. Granted, there is a great deal of alliteration and symbolism present in such an approach. However, the themes of the work expand beyond the narrative structure and provide an insight into how the changes manifest in the eyes of the populace. In many ways, the two short stories examined herein provide a brilliant insight into how such a march to modernization was viewed.