Cathy Park Hong’s grandmother was born in North Korea but carried Hong’s mother across the border to South Korea on foot during the Korean War. Later, she frequently visited the U.S., where she suffered racist abuse from white people—including from a group of children, who mocked her accent and kicked her over. Hong emphasizes the contrast between these two stories because they show how racism dehumanizes Asian Americans, making their perspectives and stories invisible. To Hong’s dismay, her grandmother died in a wretched nursing home in Seoul in 2008.
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Cathy Park Hong’s Maternal Grandmother Character Timeline in Minor Feelings
The timeline below shows where the character Cathy Park Hong’s Maternal Grandmother appears in Minor Feelings. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The End of White Innocence
When Hong was little, her grandmother —a tough former refugee who crossed from North Korea to South Korea on foot, carrying...
(full context)
The Indebted
Hong hasn’t been to Seoul since 2008, when her grandmother died there in a miserable nursing home. She could never live in Seoul, where women...
(full context)
