The Island of Sea Women

Young-sook is the central character of the novel and her life story, particularly her friendship with fellow haenyo Mi-ja, serves as the main plot. She is first introduced by an omniscient narrator as an eighty-five year in present day. As the book switches to the past, the narration changes to Young-sook’s first-person perspective, and the reader is able to form impressions of her as an anxious baby diver, a wife and mother, and the leader of a diving collective.

Young-sook has a sturdy build, an earthy, pragmatic temperament, is hardworking, and devoted to the welfare of her family. In addition to all of that, Young-sook’s defining characteristic is her deep friendship with Mi-ja. When that friendship is tested by a seeming act of betrayal, Young-sook’s anger knows no limits. She carries a grudge against Mi-ja that lasts decades and stubbornly refuses to listen to any explanations that might exonerate her friend.

Young-sook functions as a symbol of the average Korean after the atrocities of the post-war years. She suffers unspeakable horrors in the loss of family members and carries the memories of those events and the emotional wounds to match. Just like her country, she seems unwilling to let go of either one—preferring to remain in a self-righteous state of rage.