“I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won”
Jang Jin-Sung Exhausted, in the midst of the market she stood “For 100 won, my daughter I sell” Heavy medallion of sorrow A cardboard around her neck she had hung Next to her young daughter Exhausted, in the midst of the market she stood A deaf-mute the mother She gazed down at the ground, just ignoring The curses the people all threw As they glared At the mother who sold Her motherhood, her own flesh and blood Her tears dried up Though her daughter, upon learning Her mother would perish of a deadly disease Had buried her face in the mother’s long skirt And bellowed, and cried But the mother stood still And her lips only quivered Unable she was to give thanks to the soldier Who slipped a hundred won into her hand As he uttered “It is your motherhood, And not the daughter I’m buying” She took the money, and ran A mother she was, And the 100 won she had taken She spent on a loaf of wheat bread Toward her daughter she ran As fast as she could And pressed the bread on the child’s lips “Forgive me, my child” In the midst of the market she stood And she wailed. Pulled into this poem by my interest from the title, I discovered that this poem is a story about heartache and grief from a mother and her daughter. The poet, Jang Jin-Sung, used to be a citizen and well renowned poet of North Korea. Kim Jong-Il even read and appreciated his work. In 2004, he left for South Korea and published several memoirs on living conditions in the North. This poem, published in a collection, shows the poor quality of life of the working class. Jang Jin-Sung criticized the North Korean regime through his poetry as he remembered the great famine of millions of citizens while the wealthy did not nothing but watch. This poem is not filled with metaphors or much figurative language, some meaning probably lost through translation, and mostly emphasizes the realism of the situation that the mother and daughter are in. The poem starts the first stanza with, “Exhausted, in the midst of the market she stood/For 100 won, my daughter I sell.” The first two lines are laced with heavy meaning--an exhausted mother revealed to be selling her own kin. The blunt statement reveals the tragic, albeit real, horror happening in present time. The next stanza describes how the mother ignores calls and shouts from others in the square, cursing her for doing such a shameful thing to her own daughter. Jin-Sung wrote, “A deaf-mute the mother/She gazed down at the ground, just ignoring.” So, why is she doing this to her own blood? Jin-Sung makes it clear in the next stanza where he reveals that the mother has a terminal illness that will kill her in a short while. It is apparent here that the mother cannot afford proper healthcare and wants to give away her daughter so that she can live in a comfortable home, although with a stranger. While Jin-Sung mentions that the daughter “bellowed” and “cried” the mother tried to stay strong showing that her “lips only quivered.” This is key to understanding that the mother wants to remain strong for her daughter, despite their diminishing chances of remaining together. In the fourth stanza, the cardboard sign becomes a reality when a soldier slips 100 won into the mother’s hand and says, “It is your motherhood/And not the daughter I’m buying.” The soldier is trying to be comforting to the mother, essentially letting her know that he is sorry that she is in this situation and that he will take good care of her daughter. This poem does not have many comforting moments, so I find it mildly touching and slightly ironic that a soldier (of all people) tries to console her in this moment. Perhaps one of the most heart-touching aspects of this poem is what the mother does with the 100 won. It can also be summed up by the first line in the last stanza which reads, “A mother she was.” With the 100 won, the mother did not buy herself food or medicine to combat her illness, instead she ran to the store and bought her daughter some bread. He nurturing, motherly qualities made her daughter her top priority in her life. Jin-Sung finishes the poem with more repetition of the line that was in the first stanza, recalling the scene of the exhausted mother in the market, but distinguishes the difference between before and after by the last line “And she wailed.” This line holds great significance because it holds a major shift. Before the mother attempted to stay strong for her daughter and held in her tears, whereas when her daughter finally leaves it is clear that she lets her emotions go where her daughter once stood. I chose this poem solely based on its title, and I did not realize the heart wrenching story associated with it. Jang Jin-Sung did a good job bringing attention to the lifestyle of the working class in North Korea, a problem many of us just skim over when we think about the country as a whole. He is trying to bring change to the human horrors of individuals who face situations like the one discussed in the poem. Jang Jin-Sung is an advocate for the people of North Korea, and if anyone is interested in his story, an interview with him can be found here: http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=3611
5 Comments
Eng
4/1/2017 08:40:46 am
Such a good poem! What do you make of the ending? Is she continuing to sell her? Or will she make the best of the time they have left?
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Alyssa
4/5/2017 06:01:02 am
Immideatly, I too could tell this would be a poem of heartache and sadness. While it may seem that the mother is heartless, she wants her child to have a better life. This analysis allowed me to better understand this at first glance, confusing poem. Do you think the mother did the right thing?
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Sam Mott
4/5/2017 06:12:01 am
First of all, it helped a ton with you giving a back story of the author. Not many bloggers do this so keep it up. The analysis of this poem is superb. You go into depth of how and why the words in the poem meant what the meant. It was a very dark poem and stimulated a lot of thoughts. But, in the title, it puts a value on human life. Do you think human life has a price?
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Dylan Brown
4/7/2017 08:17:17 am
This poem was a dark and sad poem but you analyzed it very well and even went in depth enough to give a background of the author which helped me personally understand the poems meaning better.
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