Point of View of Please Look After Mom.

Perhaps you've read Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin before Human Acts or The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

Existing interpretation define this novel as using a second-person Point of View. This is because the narrator calls the eldest daughter, the main character, 'You'.

- First Person Point of View: Main Character = Me

- 2nd Person Point of View: Main character = You

- 3rd Person Point of View: Main character = Him/Her

The narrator from the first person point of view is a character in the story. And the narrator from the 3rd person point of view is an observer outside the story. Then what about the narrator from the 2nd person point of view? If you look at it this way, you still don't know who the narrator is. Above all, it is impossible to know the author's intention to use the 2nd person point of view. It is almost impossible for a author to use the important device of a narrator without any intention.

So I interpret it a little differently. This novel is still using a first-person point of view. In other words, the narrator is the eldest daughter. She calls herself 'You'. Yes, she is 'Otherizing' herself.

We often hate ourselves too much. Then we otherize ourselves. The same goes for the eldest daughter in this novel. She hates herself for being indifferent to her mother. That's why she otherized to criticize herself more effectively. This explains why the narrator calls the eldest daughter 'You.'

Therefore, I think this novel can be interpreted as both a 2nd-person point of view and a first-person point of view. If this novel is limited to a 2nd-person point of view, there is little to analyze. Then education becomes an memorization. By opening up various possibilities, the possibility of analysis can be created and students' thinking can be expanded. Then education becomes an analysis. I think that is the goal of the IBDP Language A subject.