Please Look After Mom

Kyung-Sook Shin’s novel Please Look After Mom is a gripping story that works to show the value in what we have, even the things that we often take for granted.  Through Shin’s various and colorful points of view, the reader is given an in-depth look into the lives of three individuals, all of which are going through the hardship of having, quite literally, lost a loved one.  At the end of her piece, Shin then goes to take the viewpoint of the mother who has become lost in the vast and unfamiliar city of Seoul.  Through the interactions between these characters, in both the past and present, the audience is able to see that through having lost their loved one, they have in a way found the woman that they had assumed would always be there.

            

When we consider the interaction that takes place between Chi-hon and her father at the end of the third section, we are given a glimpse into what it means that she has figuratively ‘found’ her mother.  All of her life, Chi-hon had accepted her mother as a constant, never paying her any attention when asked about her work as a novelist.  However, after learning that her mother had asked that her novel be read to her aloud, since she could not read herself, Chi-hon realizes that behind her mother was a caring and very alive individual who had aspired to see all of her children be the best at whatever they so chose to be.  That is why it is such an emotional point of the book when Chi-hon’s father says to her, “Your mom knew what you wrote.  When the women read to her, Mom’s face brightened and she smiled.  So, whatever happens, you have to keep writing well… Please… please look after your mom” (176).  This tells Chi-hon that even if her mother is never found again, she can keep her memory alive and well by doing what she does to the best of her ability.  That would truly have made her mother proud.