Daekyu/ Essay2/ ISS

Essay about "At the edge of the world"

People have their own individuality. And there are some differences between the individualities. Differences make conflicts with other people sometimes. Therefore they usually hide their individuality and pretend to be a good person. It helps them to have good relationships in society. So most people hide their individuality to some degree to keep their relationships such as friends, colleague and family. They are considerate of others. Krys Lee, the author of the story "at the edge of the world", shows what happen if people reveal their own individuality regardless of others.

Mark's (Myeongseok) family consists of father (step-father), mother and Mark. They have their own individuality. Father can't forget the past when he was in North Korea. His brother was died because of him. So he want to remember and cherish his dead brother, but his wife doesn't like it. Therefore he hides his mind at least in front of his wife. But after he met the shaman, one of his tenant, he reveals his feelings and emotions about his dead brother. And it became a big problem in his family when his wife noticed that. It provides one of the causes that Mark's family leave for Grand Canyon.

Also Mark reveals his individuality and pretends to be a good student. He was bullied in school. So he didn't have a friend before Chanhee's family moved to his duplex. And he loved Chanhee as a fiancée. But he couldn't say it to his mother. Because his mother hates Chanhee's family since Chanhee's mother belives dead people as a shaman. After he told his mother he will get married Chanhee, It makes his mother get angry. It makes loosen the relationship of his family as well as his father does. Also it provides one of the causes that Mark's family leave for Grand Canyon too.

Lastly, his mother hides her individuality too. After his father was caught he met shaman by his mother. His mother gets furiously angry and she complains how she doesn't like to do the chores. It makes Mark gets in shock. Because his mother has pretended that she likes doing the chores.

It can be applied in real life. We usually don't disclose our emotions or feelings completely. We try to control and moderate our individuality to keep good relationship. If we do act whatever we want, it can cause harm to other people. As a result, we would be blamed. And our relationship with the person who got harmed by us would be broken. So we pretend to be a polite and good person. By so doing, we can make good relationships. And it will bring us many benefits.

Consequently, I felt we need acting or pretending to some degree in society. We can keep the good relationships with people by pretend to be a nice person and hide our own individuality. It is proved by three persons in the story "at the edge of the world". Acting or pretending makes us to feel very stuffy. But according to the story, we need to do it to some degree. Because it can prevent us from getting the problems