37 pages 1 hour read

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

Sun-Mi Hwang’s The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly (2000) is a novella that tells the tale of Sprout the chicken’s journey to freedom and motherhood. It was widely lauded as an instant classic and appeared on various bestseller lists, including the Los Angeles Times, New Atlantic Indie, Mountains and Plains Indie, and Southern California Indie bestseller lists. In addition, the book was adapted into an animated film (which became the highest-grossing animated film in Korean history), a comic book, a play, and a musical. It has been translated from its original Korean into over a dozen languages.

The guide uses the 2014 Oneworld Publications edition of the book.

Plot Summary

Sprout, an egg-laying chicken who lives in a coop on a farm, longs to be free and to be a mother. She suffers in the coop, resenting her imprisonment and mourning the fact that her eggs are always taken from her when she longs to sit on one and help it hatch into a chick.

Depressed and despondent, Sprout stops eating, which (along with her advancing age) leads her to lay an egg that is chalky and blood-flecked, with an improperly formed shell. The farmer throws it to the dog, who eats it, and this indignity leaves Sprout heartbroken.

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