The Destiny of the Soul

The characters' questions about what happens to the soul after the body dies reflects the novel's focus on life, death, and rebirth.Throughout the novel, several characters, including Dong-ho, Jeong-dae, and Jin-su, contemplate the connection between the body and the soul. The destiny of the soul is a topic that the characters think about in order to cope with the destructive violence going on around them.

Dong-ho's contemplations about souls help him cope with the loss of Jeong-dae, hoping that his soul is set free although his body is withering away. As a middle school child, Dong-ho puts himself in the emotionally-taxing position to care for the corpses of the civilian victims. Throughout his work, he wonders to himself, "when the body dies, what happens to the soul? How long does it linger by the side of its former home?" (5). Beyond all...