Flashlight

“No one was ever listening closely—even the people who especially claimed to be listening were not really listening.”

Louisa’s frustration with the adults around her stems from the double-edged sword of her credibility. On the one hand, she is the only witness to the fate of her father so whatever she describes should be believed, yet on the other hand, because she is a child and because of her head injury and muddled memories, none of the adults take her assertions seriously. This passage hints at the indignation she feels over her treatment, which offers insight into her behavior following Serk’s disappearance.

“Each disclosed his or her life to the point of their meeting with an air of cool regret that tended to ratify their prior isolation, ratify their meeting. The world had not been fit for either of them; this suggested they were fit for each other.”

Their past Loneliness in Family Life is the foundation of Serk and Anne’s relationship. While they become lovers, they mutually acknowledge that their remoteness draws them to each other—no one else has been able to offer the understanding of being isolated that each has been living with and prefers. This makes their relationship paradoxical: They can only achieve intimacy by respecting each other’s distance.

“Yet she already shared not only Serk’s expression, but his force of personality. The two of them appeared identically regal, and grim, as if awaiting a correction of substandard conditions.”

Anne’s experience of motherhood is heavily influenced by her alienation from her family of origin and her marriage; after Louisa is born, Anne feels like a stranger to her own husband and child. In this passage, Choi emphasizes Anne’s separateness by pointing to the traits that Louisa inherits from Serk; perceiving these, Anne feels as if Louisa is purely Serk’s progeny and has no genetic link to Anne.