Reflection on Human Acts written by Han Kang

In Human Acts, Kang sheds light on how people bear the wounds of the Gwangju uprising. The novel depicts how the past’s brutality especially the Cambodian genocide, can infringe on the present obliterating hope for resolution. By employing a death and survival narrative, Kang transforms history from scholarly texts to deeply experienced reality. The use of the second person in ‘You’ requires the reader to relate more closely to a lost personality rather than to partially desensitized humanity, who has weathered trauma. This brings forth the extent to which violence alters people’s lives permanently. Lastly, the book challenges us to face pain and understand how it is possible to remain human when pain is the norm. Kang amiably emphasizes that it is if not worse equally necessary in healing – to recover pasts where evil learns no lesson.