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Seon-ju
Seong-hee is a prominent labor activist in the 1970s, as well as a close friend (and mentor) to Seon-ju. By the 1990s, Seong-hee has become a hero to progressive South Koreans like Park Yeong-ho, largely because of her radical organizing tactics (which include large-scale sit-ins and having young women strip naked in protest). Seong-hee frequently pushes Seon-ju to tell the story of her experience in the Gwangju uprisings, and Seon-ju feels that Seong-hee is judging her. By the end of Seon-ju’s narrative, Seong-hee and Seon-ju are estranged, and Seong-hee is in the hospital, aware that death is likely on the horizon.
Seong-hee Quotes in Human Acts
The Human Acts quotes below are all either spoken by Seong-hee or refer to Seong-hee. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: The Factory Girl, 2002 Quotes
If I demanded that you go home, Dong-ho; if I’d begged, while we sat there eating gimbap, you would have done as I asked, wouldn’t you?
And that’s why you’re coming to me now.
To ask why I’m still alive.
You walk, your eyes red rim seeming carved with some keen blade. Hurrying back to the bright lights of the emergency department.
There’s only one thing for me to say to you, onni.
If you’ll allow me to.
If you'll please allow me.
[…] As you walk along the straight white line that follows the center of the road, you raise your head to the falling rain.
Don’t die.
Just don’t die.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Human Acts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Seong-hee Character Timeline in Human Acts
The timeline below shows where the character Seong-hee appears in Human Acts. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5: The Factory Girl, 2002
...Seon-ju can’t stop thinking about years ago, when she would spend all her time with Seong-hee and their other labor union friends. Now, reflecting on that time—when they would talk about...
(full context)
...thinks about how she ended up in this office. For years, she had worked with Seong-hee in the labor rights organization. Ten years ago, however, she got a call from a...
(full context)
...the other employees are curious about what motivates Seon-ju. Park wonders about Seon-ju’s relationship with Seong-hee, who is “the stuff of legend” to him and other, younger labor organizers. Seon-ju feels...
(full context)
...“Up Rising” memory comes again, as Seon-ju reflects on the ways she is different from Seong-hee. While Seong-hee believes in a god of some kind, Seon-ju struggles to pray. “I forgive...
(full context)
...she can record the tapes for Yoon. Seon-ju has recently learned from the newspapers that Seong-hee is in the hospital. She calls her old friend for the first time in years,...
(full context)
...only made half of the men’s already-low pay. No wonder that Seon-ju found solace in Seong-hee’s labor rallies, which helped factory workers insist that “we are noble.”
(full context)
When Seong-hee had organized enough laborers to go on strike, she and the other young women formed...
(full context)
...pay was even worse now, but Seon-ju found comfort from writing back and forth with Seong-hee, taking her time to write in hanja (traditional Chinese) characters as Seong-hee had taught her.
(full context)
...wanting to dig up her recollections of the past. In fact, her entire falling-out with Seong-hee hinged on this disagreement. Ten years ago, Seong-hee encouraged Seon-ju to make her story public,...
(full context)
Seon-ju washes her face, brushes her teeth, and applies lotion. She wonders what Seong-hee will look like—it has been 10 years since they last saw each other, and Seong-hee...
(full context)
After several years, Seon-ju was able to track down Seong-hee, who had also been in prison. Both women have been gravely aged by their years...
(full context)
