Cranes Short Story Theme

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“A young man stood with his hands bound, before a farmhouse that had been converted into a public peace police he seemed to be a stranger, so Songsam went up for a closer look. He was stunned: this young man was none other than his boyhood playmate, tokchae”(Sun-won 133). In the short story, “cranes”, by Hwang Sun-won, two boyhood friends are reunited under strained circumstances during the Korean War. told from third person with a focus on Songsam's internal conflict reveals the struggle of choosing friendship over duty to his country. Songsam unbinds Tokchae hands and tells him to go catch a crane. This foreshadowing instance proves songsam is letting Tokchae escape. The cranes provide the verbal irony of the story, symbolizing freedom and friendship. Songsams flashbacks, behaviors and dialogue show that friendship knows no bounds in Hwang's short story, “cranes”. Flashbacks are sections in literary works that present an event or series or events that occur than the current time. As songsam is escorting tokchae away, he remembers when “he went with tokchae to …show more content…
Songsam decides to take tokchae to chongdan but advances with caution: “Tokchae was to be escorted to Chongdan by one of the peace police” and songsam volunteers for the job while cautiously “fingering the revolver at his side”(133-134). Songsam took a risk, putting a old friend before his job and having tokchae as a first priority other than his job, when he starts to have flashbacks of their friendship. He was being brave, releasing his childhood friend even though it could cost his own life for example, “songsam had untied Tokchae hands and was already crawling through the weeds”(135). Songsam showed that he can put someone else's life first instead of him first. Songsam shows what a true friendship looks like by helping out tokchae, knowing of the risks he still took it to save a life; a
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