Views of the poor as a part of Korean Culture. What is your opinion of them?

Use this forum to discuss the January 2021 Book of the month, "The Vanished" by Pejay Bradley
Albaou Amira
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Re: Views of the poor as a part of Korean Culture. What is your opinion of them?

Post by Albaou Amira »

Poverty begins and ends with fear. Fear of the person they might become or fear of falling after they've been up. I think this is still a prevailing issue in many cultures in the world and not in Korea.
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Sushan Ekanayake
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Korea was known as a poor country for a long time when we look at the world history. In my country, some of the slum areas were called as Korea due to this well known poor state of Korea. It was a part of its people.

We can actually say that it was a part of its culture, because initially the reason for most of its people to be poor was the country's political system which was based on a king's rule. So only a small group got the privileges while the rest remained underprivileged. Later the poverty was mainly due to the invasion of other countries like Japan
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

theprakriti wrote: 17 Jan 2021, 23:33 Being poor, according to the Korean culture, can be at times conclusive. In relation to the big social gap between people given in the book, many remain poor due to their virtue. They believe miracles happen to those who become suddenly rich like the folk explained about Embon's father. Some people like Hob do not want to be rich if it means being married to someone he does not love and following someone he did not believe. In Korea, poor can only dwell at nothing or do small jobs to feed their tummy. They can be servants to the rich and face slavery till the end of their lives.
I agree. I believe that there have been a system of some sort of casts in the ancient Korea. So the poor only had very few options as jobs and they kept them as poor forever. It has actually been a part of their culture.

On the other hand, though many were poor, they were content with their lives. They did not have bigger dreams regarding money, but as the book says, they had basic needs like love. So, I think many of them had no big intention to overcome from their poverty as well. It has been a part of their lives as well as their culture
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Swirliegirlie wrote: 19 Jan 2021, 14:07 As unfortunate as poverty is, I think it was the better decision for some of the characters. Like Embon's father, he chose to not let his arranged marriage dictate him. It isn't what he wanted and no sum of money would make him change his mind. I am not fond of the high priority we put on money here in America so i thought it was a nice part of the Korean culture. Especially the aspect that most people that chose to stay in poverty did so to stay together as a family or staying true to their hearts.
I think some people had no value in money but had value in the real assets like freedom and love. But for most I believe that they had no idea about a rich life and had no intentions to grow, since poverty has gone deep into their bones, and they accepted what they had. I believe that it has been a part of Korean culture, that few privileged ones had everything but the majority had nothing under the king's rule. This was understood by the younger generations and they were expecting a change. They got that chance to change with the Japanese invasion
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Shieldmaiden88 wrote: 28 Jan 2021, 10:42 I think it says a lot about the culture that poverty actually results in more personal freedom than wealth. The idea a person would have to choose to stay poor to marry the person they love is truly tragic. As a western person this is pretty foreign. The vast majority of people in the west are free to marry anyone they choose.
I agree that these Asian cultural concepts are bit outdated these days. India still practices its cast systems though they are despised by many other countries. It is hard to change the traditional ones. How they think remain intact whatever the things that others do or whatever the things that happen around them. This aspect is similar in this story as well. Many have to remain in their level without achieving higher levels to get what they actually want. But some break from this concept and go to higher levels but they actually loose their values of life. This poverty and the cast system apparently had been well carved into the Korean culture at the time when Japanese invasion occurred
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Excel 2021 wrote: 28 Jan 2021, 20:40 There is more to this than meets the eye. Poverty in many parts of the world is something people try to escape from often at all cost. But not in korea. Here being poor comes with certain privileges which others, elsewhere enjoy irrespective of their financial status.
It goes to tell us the kind of culture the Koreans oractise and how it contrasts that man of many other nations.
I don't know whether they consider what they get for being poor as privileges. But apparently they tend to loose hearty things that they love to have if they change their poverty status. Some, like Embon's father has gone up from his state of poverty with his marriage, but he doesn't love what he got, and it is same for his wife as well. On the other hand we see that some remain poor to get what they really value in their lives more than money. It has something to do with Korean culture. But mainly I think that is human nature that plays a major role
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Post by Kaitlin Licato »

One of the interesting things I learned while living in Korea is that they are obsessed with being pale. Being tanned from being in the sun is equated with being poor and working the fields. That's why you see so many of the Korean models being pale as well. Just an interesting sidenote to this discussion of poverty. The stigma is still very much there.
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Post by Betty Gitonga »

It was quite fascinating to discover that at that time, poverty offered individuals a sort of independence. We seek wealth at all costs in our time, because we think we'll have freedom, peace, security, love and satisfaction with money. Nevertheless, what I see is that wealth and poverty issues are not necessarily black and white.
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Post by Foluso Falaye »

Poverty is relative. Poverty could mean poor in terms of time, satisfaction, and peace of mind. Sometimes, they work inversely: a poor lifestyle and financial poverty. A "poor" Korean man could enjoy what he does as opposed to a man that leaves what he loves to go after what he wants in order to be considered rich.
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Post by zulfiyya »

One of the first things I thought when reading the story was how I'd love to grow up poor in this society. Royalty even for the British queen today is a lot of tradition, customs and social norms. I can't even imagine the constant pressure and strain of living as Royalty in Korea back in the day. Lady Sygone and her family were essentially representative statues of the tradition in the country. They were responsible for upholding the strict social norms not just to be a good citizen, but to represent what traditional Korean society means for a whole nation. Even if someone of high status personally doesn't want to uphold these customs, it would be very difficult for them to abandon them because that means betraying the norms for a whole country. With that considered, I could definitely understand how being born into poverty may be far better in this kind of society.
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Post by Liveforchrist51 »

Being a poor Korean at the time was a curse. The poor never really gained the opportunities to change their status because they couldn’t qualify for certain jobs and were looked down upon. With no chance of opportunity, poverty then was a sealed fate for their lifetime. They were treated very unjustly. They were used for doing the “dirty jobs” the rich did not want to do. It is truly heartbreaking to see that kind of struggle.
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Post by Mvictoria »

Ahbed Nadir wrote: 30 Jan 2021, 17:02 Personally, I think it's the mindset of the people that was the real issue. Most people who are born into poverty choose to remain in poverty because they feel that as a result of their birth they have no hope of success and as such there is no point in struggling against their lot.
I don't think being poor is only a mindset issue, at all. There are definitely examples of those people who chose to remain poor for their morals or for love, but look at Embon's mother's maid. She had no choice but to stay poor and work for a living, unlike so many who were more fortunate than her.
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Post by Ahbed Nadir »

Mvictoria wrote: 18 Feb 2021, 15:40
Ahbed Nadir wrote: 30 Jan 2021, 17:02 Personally, I think it's the mindset of the people that was the real issue. Most people who are born into poverty choose to remain in poverty because they feel that as a result of their birth they have no hope of success and as such there is no point in struggling against their lot.
I don't think being poor is only a mindset issue, at all. There are definitely examples of those people who chose to remain poor for their morals or for love, but look at Embon's mother's maid. She had no choice but to stay poor and work for a living, unlike so many who were more fortunate than her.
I think you're right. Another angle to look at i suppose, thanks for the insight!
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Post by ReaderAisha2020 »

Perhaps some people were more comfortable being poor, they felt it was their destiny. However, being aristocratic did not seem so desirable with all the traditions and taboos and things that must be followed. Maybe being poor had some advantage in this way
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Post by Aan Granados »

I don't think they just accept being poor. It is because there is no opportunity for them to succeed in that society. What they accept is the social caste, which was surprising to me that it existed in Korea. The servants or slaves accept it, I think because as a slave, at least they eat. If they didn't work there, they would be poorer.
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