Emotional And Financial Hardships In Park Yang Kwija's The Last Land

Korea is a country that has a long history of societal and financial hardships that many would say continues to this day. These hardships can be seen in a vast amount of the events that occurred in Korea as they fought for their right to democracy. The events that occurred in Korea along with the various Korean Presidents that attempted to silence that cry for democracy with oppressive and restrictive regulations/laws, led to an abundance of financial difficulties across the country. When a society has financial problems, starvation and survival issues are usually soon to follow. In a society in which financial, starvation, and survival issues arise, the population tends to get restless while they look for any way possible to rid themselves

“The Last Land” follows the story of a man who refuses to sell his land to the city despite the vitriol of their neighbors and the modernization of the surroundings. Even with the push from his wife and the rest of the family, he would not budge on his stance on selling his land. During this, his wife and him have an exchange and says “’Not the land. I won’t sell the land!’ ‘Stop being so stubborn! Let’s start by selling the land out front. That’ll get the neighbors off our backs for a while. I just want to help the children. What’s wrong with you?’ ‘Don’t you see? We’ve lost all our land trying to help those brats!” (Kwija 67). Showing that not only is the man stubborn in regards to selling the land, he is also sacrificing the happiness of his family and the neighbors in order to get his way. This sort of thinking is the opposite of utilitarianism, as it favors the outcome with the overall greater happiness rather than the happiness of individuals. This is furthered by the fact that the man does not have a justification for his actions other than personal interest; which is an idea that is covered in Bataille’s The Notion of Expenditure. In this text by Bataille, he states that some men are “…incapable of a utilitarian justification for his actions, and it does not occur to him that

“Our daily bread” by Yang Kwija is about a family dealing with financial difficulties while a new shop opens up that takes the business of some of the locals. Afterwards, there is a focus on the effects that the new business had and how that angered the locals due to their already outstanding financial struggle. Near the beginning of “Our daily bread”, when we are being introduced to the family, the wife says that “The market is in such a state, we can hardly pay our own rent! Who’d even think of opening a real estate office at a time like this? I’m at my wits end. The kids are growing up and ready to get married, but we don’t have any money coming in…It’s just plain luck is what it is. You can run around, working your tail off, but it won’t do you any good without luck” (Kwija 180). Introducing the reader to both the state of the family and the state of the society they live in while also giving their perspective on the matter. Emphasizing that to succeed in this society you need luck, as no matter how hard you work, it can mean nothing without a little luck. This notion is similar to much of the ideals seen on labor within the 70’s and 80’s of South Korea; as there was a heavy focus by park Chung Hee and jump starting the economy while becoming an industrial powerhouse.