The document provides background information and context for the short story "Cranes" by Hwang Sunwŏn. It discusses the story's themes of loyalty to friends versus duty and the difficult decisions the main character faces. It also provides historical context about the Korean War and the division of Korea. The document prepares the reader to analyze the story's themes and characters and make inferences about their motivations.

1. Introducing the Story Literary Focus: Theme and Character Reading Skills: Making Inferences About Motivation Feature Menu Cranes by Hwang Sunwŏn translated by Peter H. Lee

2. Cranes by Hwang Sunwŏn translated by Peter H. Lee

3. Which kind of loyalty comes first—loyalty to a friend or to duty? What would you do if you had to choose? Cranes Introducing the Story

6. Theme: central idea of the story; a truth or insight about life or human behavior What obstacles does the main character face? What does the main character learn? What decisions must the main character make? What characters experience during their journey often reveals the theme of a work. Cranes Literary Focus: Theme and Character

7. Sŏngsam, the main character in “Cranes,” travels only a short distance on foot, but the journey he takes in his heart and mind is much greater. Cranes Literary Focus: Theme and Character

10. You can base your inferences on your own prior knowledge and on clues from the story. Prior Knowledge Based on personal experience and other stories you’ve read, what do you know about people and their motivation? Clues from the Story What do the characters do and say that might give insight into their motivations? Inferences About Motivation Cranes Reading Skills: Making Inferences about Motivation

12. The conflict in this story is shaped by the civil war that took place in the early 1950s in Korea, a nation west of Japan and bordering on China and Russia. At the end of World War II, the country was divided in half, at the thirty-eighth parallel of latitude, with Soviet troops occupying the north and U.S. troops occupying the south. Cranes Background

13. There had been plans to reunite the country eventually, but instead, in 1948, a Communist government was established in the north and a pro-Western government was established in the south. In 1950, Communist troops from North Korea invaded the South. They were opposed by soldiers from South Korea, supported by United Nations (mostly U.S.) forces. South Korean flag North Korean flag Cranes Background

14. Ultimately the conflict centered around the thirty-eighth parallel. During the war many villages along the thirty-eighth parallel changed hands several times between North and South Korea. “Cranes” is set in one such village. A large number of Korean civilians and military personnel died during the war, and both North and South Korea suffered great devastation. Cranes Background

15. A truce agreement was signed in 1953, the year “Cranes” was published, and the final military front line of battle became the boundary between North and South Korea. The two countries have still not achieved reunification. [End of Section] Cranes Background

16. Quickwrite

17. Make the Connection Which is worse: betraying one’s duty or betraying one’s friend? Imagine a situation in which you were forced to make such a choice. What issues would you weigh as you tried to make a decision? Freewrite for a few minutes about this dilemma. [End of Section] Cranes Quickwrite

18. Vocabulary

19. Previewing the Vocabulary averted v . used as adj.: turned away. obstruction n.: obstacle; barrier. constitutes v.: makes up; forms. mainstay n.: principal support. refuge n.: shelter; protection from danger or difficulty. Cranes Vocabulary

20. Vocabulary Activity: Analogies Analogy questions ask you to analyze the relationship between one pair of words and then complete a second pair of words. The same relationship must be expressed in the two pairs. Follow the steps on the next slide to complete this word analogy. MOUTH : FACE :: ______ : television a. entertainment b. living room c. telephone d. screen Cranes Vocabulary

22. Vocabulary Activity: Analogies Relationship Example Synonyms TIRED : SLEEPY :: happy : joyous Antonyms RIGHT : WRONG :: few : many Part to whole LEAF : TREE :: kitchen : house Member to category EARTH : PLANET :: truck : vehicle Object (or thing) to a characteristic of it SUN : HOT :: desert : dry Cranes Vocabulary

24. Meet the Writer

25. Hwang Sunwŏn (1915–2000) was born in what is now North Korea. Throughout his lifetime, Korea was torn by political turmoil, and Hwang’s deep responses to that turmoil are reflected in his works. Educated at Waseda University in Tokyo, Hwang has published poetry, seven novels, and some of the best-known short stories of modern Korea. More About the Writer [End of Section] Cranes Meet the Writer