Suddenly it occurs to you to wonder, when the body dies, what happens to the soul? How long does it linger by the side of its former home?
-- Narrator (The Boy, 1980)

Importance: In the opening pages of the novel, Dong-ho poses this question that appears again and again throughout the text. Dong-ho’s curiosity demonstrates his attempt to cope with the overwhelming situation at hand. As a middle school boy tending to corpses and wondering about the fate of his best friend, he wonders about souls in order to bring himself some peace of mind. He hopes that Jeong-dae’s soul is free, instead of trapped inside the miserable Provincial Office.

Why would you sing the national anthem for people who’d been killed by soldiers? Why cover the coffin with the Taegukgi? As though it wasn’t the nation itself that had murdered them.
-- Dong-ho (The Boy, 1980)

Importance: Here, Dong-ho’s questions reveal his ability to critically...