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September Monkey
To an illiterate Buddhist mother and a scholarly Confucian father one day came a great disappointment—the birth of a daughter. “If only this baby were a boy what a great career he would have,” mourned the father, noting the auspicious date on which “ September Monkey” arrived. But the mother — shortly to become a widow and a despised Christian as well — went about preparing her “girl-boy” baby for the unheard-of experience of education, somehow realizing that if a new day for women in Korea were to come she would have to make it.
How the stubborn, curious child, cut loose from the bonds of centuries-old traditions, emerged into responsible world citizenship in some of the stormiest times yet known to man makes a tale as inspiring as it is informative. In fact, it might almost be called “living fiction” were it not perfectly true.
Christian missions played a very large part in the development o£ a remarkable woman, but so did Japanese aggression. A product of the first high school for girls in Korea, Mrs. Pahk early learned that Japan had replaced China as the dominant nation on the ‘'Hermit Kingdom’s” horizon. As a young woman she also learned — both in and out of prison — at what cost one cast his lot with the independence movement. She further learned, through the hard way of experience, how the tyranny of local customs had to be opposed; it was only after a series of family crises that education in America came. At length, enriched by contact with great personalities in church and college, and world travel and study, she returned to prodigious work in and for her homeland.
This is a book to be enjoyed for its engaging personal narrative and to be valued for the indispensable insight into present-day Korea it imparts.
How the stubborn, curious child, cut loose from the bonds of centuries-old traditions, emerged into responsible world citizenship in some of the stormiest times yet known to man makes a tale as inspiring as it is informative. In fact, it might almost be called “living fiction” were it not perfectly true.
Christian missions played a very large part in the development o£ a remarkable woman, but so did Japanese aggression. A product of the first high school for girls in Korea, Mrs. Pahk early learned that Japan had replaced China as the dominant nation on the ‘'Hermit Kingdom’s” horizon. As a young woman she also learned — both in and out of prison — at what cost one cast his lot with the independence movement. She further learned, through the hard way of experience, how the tyranny of local customs had to be opposed; it was only after a series of family crises that education in America came. At length, enriched by contact with great personalities in church and college, and world travel and study, she returned to prodigious work in and for her homeland.
This is a book to be enjoyed for its engaging personal narrative and to be valued for the indispensable insight into present-day Korea it imparts.
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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