Please Look After Mom Short Story Analysis

When something is lost, someone looks for it. When Mom disappears from the train station in Seoul, her children go look for her. If only it was that simple to just find Mom. Please Look After Mom (PLAM) written by Kyung- sook Shin, follows the aftermath of losing Mom, by looking at the perspectives of her children and husband. Within individual perspectives, this emotional piece of literature, analyses guilt and grief in a realistic fashion. These emotions are strong and forthcoming on the reader as the story progresses since it is written in second person. In the article, “Please Look After Mom: A Guilt Trip To The Big City,” written by Maureen Corrigan, discusses her thoughts on the numerous themes. Though Corrigan’s statements can be agreeable,

her statement that this book is "manipulative sob sister melodrama," is one that is inaccurate.

This novel is an emotional piece of literature, and has no basis to be called a “manipulative sob sister.” Written literature is a work that is has long lasting artistic merit that gives readers an insight into the portrayal of emotions. It has been said that love is the strongest emotion. A mother is someone who always gives unconditional love and doesn’t always expect it in return. It is totally possible for someone to act in an extreme matter when something they love, is no longer with them. In emotional literature, it is normal to react with tears or other sensational actions. Shin writes, "Either a mother and daughter know each other very well, or they are strangers" (Shin 17). Chi-hon realizes that her mother and herself once had a deep bond, but only after her Mom disappears. This leads her to analyze the essence of her mother through flashbacks of herself and Mom. One memory that she has is when Mom runs out of the house like a little girl to greet her brother. She concludes that her mother was

not only a mom, but a daughter, sister, and little girl at heart. Particularly these characteristic were foreign parts of Mom to Chi-hon. Sorrow overcomes Chi-hon that she had not taken into account all these aspects of Mom when Mom was still with her. Chi-hon’s memories stir the powerful emotion of guilt in her and the reader. When Chi-hon originally remembers this moment, she was lost at Mom’s reaction. Now she realizes that she will not get to see that part of mom again. Although some of these stories may make readers want to cry, it is an understandable reaction to the emotional words in the book. People can not be manipulated to cry. This piece of literature is written in such a deep manner, that crying a reaction to the sadness that overcomes Chi-hon. Shin makes the reader feel the deep emotions that Chi-hon feels that can result in tears.
Stages of grief, that characters experience, show the difference PLAM is not a melodramatic book and actually a piece of literature.

Melodramatic books have an artificial, over exaggerated aspect. Shin doesn't exaggerate the situation, but rather describes it in a realistic manner. The stages of grief are expressed through different characters thoughts and memories. First come denial, where the children didn’t believe she was gone. They are going to find her, and bring her back to their homes. Then comes anger. After a while of not being able to find Mom, the children begin to blame others and soon themselves for being too busy to pick up their parents. Bargaining is a stage that is somewhat left to the end, when Chi-hon says “Please look after Mom” to no one in particular, on the last page. Depression, is best shown in part 3, where the reader follows Father. Father realizes the great importance of Mom, not as a Mom, but as his wife and as a person. Acceptance is the last stage, which still leaves answers, unanswered and the character and the reader without closure. None of these emotions are melodramatic in this novel. It is normal to go through these stages, which Corrigan doesn’t seem to

understand.
Overall, Shin’s book gives readers multiple perspectives on losing a loved one, especially a mother. Corrigan’s statement describes PLAM as "manipulative sob sister melodrama," when it clearly isn’t. Her statement is one that can be called melodramatic because she believes anything emotional becomes over exaggerated. Through a broader lens, readers see struggle of guilt and grief that this family goes through. Tears are a customary reaction to such the touching stories and memories. These are all parts of literary novels. There wasn’t melodramatic parts in Shin’s novel, just ones that openly described what would happen in reality. This is the reason Corrigan’s statement can be disproved.