Descriptive Essay - Original Writing

It is said that “The true content of a photograph is invisible, for it derives from a play not with form but with time”. This makes me think that the real content of a picture, which is what the photographer tried to express, is not evident to perceive unless an explanatory text is provided. In fact, I believe that our perceptions of pictures changes over time as the historical context do. In addition, our opinions are never fixed as they are influenced by our environment. Therefore, when looking at a particular picture at a given time, it is certain that our perception of it will be different in the future based on what happen between the first time and second time we saw it.

Passage: “Whenever he looked at the photographs, he thought of new things he should’ve done.” P.2

The main characters go through character development in the novel, maturing in both their thoughts and state of mind. After facing the intense guilt from thinking that her uncle was going to be caught by the Japanese government, Sun-hee makes sure to not jump to conclusions: “Tae-yul was going to be a kamikaze...But maybe I was wrong. Remember Tomo-remember Uncle. I’d been so sure, and had made a terrible mistake. Don’t make a mistake this time” (Park 143). After her uncle had run away because of her misinterpretation of a warning, Sun-hee had blamed herself, not trusting anything she thought. Instead of completely discrediting her thoughts, she only warned herself to think it through more. Her careful mindset allowed her to confirm her Korean identity and that her culture had to be protected. This maturity gave her the freedom in knowing her thoughts about her culture were well-thought-out. Tae-yul’s growth is evident by his body language and reactions to certain events. Near the beginning of the story, he is

At the end of the story, Lae Choo is finally granted the paperwork to collect her son after ten harrowing months. However, her expectations of a perfect reunion would soon be crushed. As the caretaker walks Lae Choo to Kim, she discusses his behaviors at the mission nursery school. She mentioned how difficult he was to manage at first, but how “’children so soon forget, and after a month he seemed quite at home and played around as bright and happy as a bird’” (Far 1727). With this change of behavior, Far draws a parallel between Kim and the American rejection of Chinese culture. His difficult behavior when he arrived at the mission nursery could be seen as his retainment of Chinese culture. However, at the end, he is happy and is compared to a bright and

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

In this work, Kang’s family is living in North Korea when he and his family are sent to Yodok prison camp for the supposed crimes of his grandfather. It is important to note that Kang was only nine years of age at the time. He, his young sister, his grandmother, his father, and his uncle were sent to Yodok where they were placed in a cold hut and immediately forced to learn how to survive without the amenities they were accustomed to in

noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up. ‘Bring that back’ he said” (1). This

I glance amusedly at the photo placed before me. The bright and smiling faces of my family stare back me, their expressions depicting complete happiness. My mind drifted back to the events of the day that the photo was taken. It was Memorial Day and so, in the spirit of tradition my large extended family had gathered at the grave of my great grandparents. The day was hot and I had begged my mother to let me join my friends at the pool. However, my mother had refused. Inconsolable, I spent most of the day moping about sulkily. The time came for a group picture and so my grandmother arranged us all just so and then turned to me saying, "You'd better smile Emma or you'll look back at this and never forgive yourself." Eager to please and

Both of their backpacks were inspected, flipped upside down and shaken empty by a third cop. Spray cans tumbled to the ground in a heap of steel and aluminum, but the officers didn’t bother to examine them. Behind him sat an unfortunate garage door which he and Jimin utilized as an art canvas; apparent evidence of their wrongdoing. Arbitrary words were sprayed across the ribbed metal garage in various fonts, with shapes and doodles filling in every blank corner. It had all collided into one magnificent landscape; one Taehyung was fairly proud of.

Sookan and her family had just gotten news from her father, saying that him and his four eldest sons were safe in Seoul. Sookan was ecstatic to know that they were safe and well, but wondered why her family that was left behind in North Korea hadn’t been the first priority. “Mother stretched out her arms and Inchun and I ran to them.How good it was to know that father was alive and well, and that my three brothers were safe in Seoul. And how wonderful to know that father would be coming to take us to the South. Yet I wondered how it was that he had left us here so long. I wish that he had come for us earlier, as he had for his sons. Why had he left us for last?”(118) Sookan was the only daughter, and the second youngest in the household. Growing up, family is a very important part to anyone's life, and it’s extremely rare for you to questions your parents judgement or actions when you are growing up. But Sookan did just that when she asked herself if her fathers decisions on saving the eldest boys first was really the right thing to

Shin Dong-Hyuk’s earliest memory was of the sound of gunshots and an execution. Underneath Shin Dong-Hyuk’s clothes, he bears numerous burn scars on his lower body from being held over a fire, dangling by a hook. This was after his mother and brother were caught trying to escape Camp 14 in North Korea. There was no such thing as love or mercy in the world Shin was born into. His mother was publicly hung and his brother was shot by the firing squad. As Shin watched his mother die, he felt no remorse. She deserved it and with her gone there was less competition for food. He could receive a bit more of a scarce helping of corn grown from the homemade fertilizer straight from the prisoners into the ground. This was the place Shin Dong-Hyuk called home. This is only one story from the few escapees out of the 80,000-120,000 inmates believed to still live in the prison camps. X

The photograph is severely cropped which presents the image as a fragment instead of a whole scene. This lack of wholeness within the photograph becomes another layer to the metaphor of memory that reverberates throughout the image. Memory often arrives in one’s thoughts in the form of fragments that must then be pieced together. The viewer of the photograph must rely on the little information that Davis did not crop out, just as a person must rely on the attainable information in

“How many boys have I watched in the past twenty years?” he said, staring at the picture impassively. “For three years I’ve been standing outside official buildings, jails, and morgues, waiting for them to open their doors. And every door I have knocked has presented me with ten thousand photos. Sometimes I feel that every picture I watch is the same,

The clock struck 6, Devika with half opened eyes, turned the alarm off and the first thing her hand stretched for was her phone. As soon as she reached her phone, she checked it for her what’s app messages and soon began to surf the internet.​

It was Halloween and, being the super mature teenager that I was, I went trick-or-treating. Going house to house and getting practically thrown at with candy just seemed entirely worth it. Considering I was 5,3, I wasn 't surprised that I could pull off being a 12-year-old for one night without calling attention to myself.