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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Single Shard, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Found Family
Pride and Work
Art
Bravery
Honesty
Summary
Analysis
When Tree-ear arrives at Min’s the following morning, Min scolds him for coming back with the wood so late—and not depositing it at the kiln. Though Tree-ear is embarrassed, he’s also annoyed: Min only told him to fill the cart with wood, not to bring it to the kiln. Since Tree-ear is afraid Min will dismiss him before teaching him pottery, he apologizes and asks for a second chance. Min orders him to fill the cart with wood again.
Tree-ear is arguably right to be annoyed with Min, who is criticizing Tree-ear for failing to do something Min never explicitly told him to do. Tree-ear’s decision to apologize anyway underscores both his deference to Min as his “employer” and a great artist and his strong desire to learn pottery from Min.
Themes
Tree-ear keeps chopping wood for Min. On the third day, Crane-man offers to help. Tree-ear, terrified that Crane-man will injure himself with the axe, says that the best thing Crane-man can do for Tree-ear is make sure dinner is ready when he gets home. On the fourth day, while Tree-ear is unloading wood at the kiln, a potter named Kang identifies him as “Min’s new boy” and says it’s good elderly Min has an assistant now—he wasn’t depositing enough wood at the kiln before.
Though Tree-ear is working really hard for Min, he refuses Crane-man’s help out of fear for Crane-man’s safety, showing his filial love for Crane-man. Meanwhile, Kang’s comment that elderly Min hasn’t been able to keep up with the non-artistic physical work related to pottery reveals that Min may need Tree-ear—even if Min was too proud to seek out help in the past.
Themes
After Tree-ear’s ninth day of work, he wonders how he can convince Min to teach him pottery. On the morning of the tenth day, when Tree-ear approaches Min’s house and calls for him, Min’s wife comes out, tells him Min is eating breakfast, and asks him to wait. Then she tells him that it’s a good thing Tree-ear chopped the wood: Min is getting old. She smiles at Tree-ear, and Tree-ear has the odd thought that her “bright and soft” eyes are similar to Crane-man’s.
When Min’s wife admits to Tree-ear that Min is getting old, her admission underscores that even if Min is too proud to admit it, he benefits from Tree-ear’s help. The comparison that Tree-ear draws between Min’s wife and Crane-man—they have similarly “bright and soft” eyes—may foreshadow that Min’s wife has a parental kindness about her the way that Crane-man does.
Themes
Tree-ear finds Min in the back yard and asks whether he could continue working for Min. Min says that he can’t give Tree-ear any money. Tree-ear is overjoyed: Min is agreeing. Tree-ear says that working for Min for free would be an honor and bows. The next day, Tree-ear gathers clay for Min from the clay pits. Though he observes other people cutting clay before he attempts it, he still has difficulty—and tears open his blistered hand. Yet when he finishes, he’s very happy: because he’s now Min’s employee rather than his debtor, Min will at least give Tree-ear food.
While Tree-ear’s primary motivation for Min seems to be his ambition to learn pottery, this passage gives Tree-ear a secondary motivation: if Tree-ear is Min’s employee, Min will feed him. In other words, Tree-ear will earn regular food through work rather than having to scrounge food. This secondary motivation emphasizes both Tree-ear’s hard life and the value he places on work.
Themes
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When Tree-ear returns to Min’s house with a cart full of clay, Min criticizes him for taking so long and stomps back into the house—but Min’s wife brings him a bowl of rice and kimchee to eat and tells him, “Eat well, work well.” Tree-ear is proud to have earned his food. After lunch, Tree-ear refills the cart with clay. After work, he goes home to the bridge.
The phrase “Eat well, work well” indicates that to do good work, one can’t be starving. In other words, while work gives people dignity, starving people can’t do good work, through no fault of their own. Thus, the novel once again nuances the high value its characters place on doing hard work, even as Tree-ear derives great pride from earning his food.
Themes
Tree-ear and Crane-man eat a dinner of wild mushrooms. Then Tree-ear notices that Crane-man’s crutch is missing and asks about it. Crane-man says that a “run of flounder” happened earlier in the day: that is, a school of flounder swam close to the beach, some being thrown ashore by waves. When a run of flounder happens, the villagers go to the beach to catch beached fish. Ordinarily, Tree-ear would have gone to catch fish for himself and Crane-man. With Tree-ear working for Min, Crane-man went by himself—and couldn’t catch anything. After a moment, Crane-man explains that in anger, he hit a rock with his crutch and broke the crutch.
The novel yet again nuances the value it places on hard work by illustrating how a disabled person like Crane-man can try to do hard physical labor (catching fish) and still fail to reap the rewards, due to his physical disability rather than any fault of his own. Thus, while work may give a person dignity, a disability that prevents a person from working doesn’t take away that person’s dignity. Yet Crane-man, perhaps due to shame at failure, still becomes angry when he can’t catch fish and breaks his crutch.
Themes
An embarrassed Tree-ear realizes that he should have saved some of his lunch for Crane-man. He apologizes about the fish. Crane-man says he might as well apologize about Crane-man’s leg—but when Crane-man “leave[s] this world,” both his legs will be healthy. When Tree-ear jokes that four of his legs will be healthy, Crane-man asks what Tree-ear is implying about his reincarnation, and they jokingly fight.
During the 12th century when the novel takes place, Buddhism was Korea’s state religion. Many schools of Buddhism believe in reincarnation. When Tree-ear makes a joke about Crane-man having four legs after death, he is joking that Crane-man will be reincarnated as a four-legged animal rather than a human. Tree-ear’s guilt over not bringing Crane-man some of his own lunch and his attempt to cheer up Crane-man with jokes both show his filial love of Crane-man.
Themes
