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Chapter 8
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
Min’s harsh rejection rings in Tree-ear’s head as he walks home. Tree-ear hadn’t noticed, but it’s true that the other potters’ apprentices are all potters’ sons. Tree-ear longs to yell at Min that he, Tree-ear, isn’t to blame for his own parents’ or Hyung-gu’s death and to ask why the father-to-son transmission of the pottery trade must be respected.
When Tree-ear wants to know why pottery has to be transmitted father to son, he is implicitly asking why biological family should be so much more important than found family. This question naturally arises for Tree-ear because his two closest relationships—with Crane-man and with Min’s wife—are with adults unrelated to him who have informally adopted him.
Themes
When Tree-ear gets home, Crane-man offers him two new pairs of sandals, which he tries on politely. Then he asks Crane-man whether potters pass their trades to their sons everywhere like they do in Ch’ulp’o. Crane-man replies that according to legend, potters used to make merely functional ceramics rather than art objects, so they received no respect. In those days, potters’ sons refused to enter the trade until there weren’t enough potters—so the king made a law that potters’ sons had to become potters. Tree-ear marvels at the irony of potters’ sons running away from his dream job. Crane-man says that the law may not still be in effect, but cultural traditions “can be stronger than law”—but then he tells Tree-ear that when one door closes, another sometimes opens.
Crane-man has taught Tree-ear that work is inherently dignified, yet this passage shows that not everyone agrees with Crane-man: back when pottery was a less respected trade, potters’ sons tried to flee it, suggesting that they didn’t see dignity in work per se, only in higher-status work. In this passage, Crane-man offers Tree-ear two pieces of wise, quasi-fatherly advice: he admits that the cultural traditions around biological inheritance of the potters’ trade may be “stronger than law,” but he also suggests that Tree-ear can find other opportunities, perhaps foreshadowing another path forward for Tree-ear’s pottery career.
Themes
Now that Min has refused ever to teach Tree-ear pottery, Tree-ear no longer enjoys his work. Moreover, Tree-ear now tells himself that he’ll take the pots to Songdo for Ajima’s sake—not Min’s. One day, while he is testing clay at the drainage site, he absentmindedly forms a lump of clay into a petal—and then realizes he can teach himself to mold pottery freehand rather than learning to throw pottery on a wheel. The other door has opened!
This passage reveals that even if Tree-ear agreed with Crane-man’s claim that work confers dignity, he was interested in the grunt work of pottery only because he hoped it would lead to learning pottery—not because the physical labor of cutting wood or draining clay was inherently interesting or valuable. Meanwhile, Tree-ear’s revelation about molding pottery shows his strong artistic sensibility and intuitions.
Themes
It’s almost fall when Min finishes the two inlay-work vases he wants to send to Songdo. Ajima suggests that Tree-ear carry the vases in a well-lined woven backpack called a jiggeh. When Min asks who could weave the pack, Crane-man ends up getting the job. After Crane-man completes the durable lidded pack, Ajima asks Crane-man a favor: would he come to Min’s house and do Tree-ear’s chores while Tree-ear is away in exchange for food? Tree-ear is grateful, knowing that Ajima wants to continue feeding Crane-man. Yet Crane-man delicately declines the offer and leaves. When Tree-ear gives Ajima a questioning look, she explains Crane-man is too proud to take charity.
Ajima’s attempt to feed Crane-man while Tree-ear is gone suggests that found families create expanding circles of care: because Ajima has come to care for Tree-ear, she cares about Tree-ear’s other loved one, Crane-man, as well. Crane-man’s rejection of her help once again shows that pride is a double-edged sword: though Crane-man’s pride may give him additional dignity, it prevents him from taking help from Ajima that he may genuinely need.
Themes
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Back at the bridge, Tree-ear scolds Crane-man, saying he doesn’t need additional worries when he’s setting out on a perilous journey. When Crane-man says that Tree-ear doesn’t need to worry about him, Tree-ear shouts that he’s worried about Min’s elderly wife doing all the chores by herself! Then he tells Crane-man that helping her would be helping Tree-ear. Crane-man bursts out laughing and calls Tree-ear an excellent actor but agrees to go to Min’s house every day. Tree-ear is glad that Crane-man agreed—even if not exactly for the reasons Tree-ear had hoped.
While Tree-ear claims that he is worried about Ajima, Crane-man clearly sees that Tree-ear is actually worried about him. Precisely because Crane-man cares so much about Tree-ear, he is willing to put aside his pride and accept help from Ajima to comfort Tree-ear. Crane-man’s more flexible pride contrasts with the rigidity of Min, who clings to his pride even when it’s self-defeating and hurtful.
Themes
Two disposable vases are packed into Tree-ear’s travel pack. Then Tree-ear tosses around and kicks the pack while Min, Ajima, and Crane-man observe. After Tree-ear is done, Min checks to make sure the vases haven’t broken. They haven’t. Satisfied, Min goes to get the inlay-work vases that Tree-ear will bring to Songdo. A sleeping mat, spare sandals, a water dipper, and a food bag are also attached to the pack. Tree-ear will leave the next day.
The extensive preparations and supplies that Tree-ear will need for his journey emphasize its length—and thus emphasize that Tree-ear will need to be brave and resourceful to complete his mission to Songdo.
Themes
That evening under the bridge, Tree-ear gives Crane-man a tiny monkey he molded out of clay and fired in secret. He claims the monkey will remind Crane-man to go to Min’s house—but really, it’s a memento of Tree-ear. Though Tree-ear thinks molded work isn’t as beautifully symmetrical as work created on a potter’s wheel, he’s pleased with the etching he did on the monkey’s face and fur. Crane-man tries to speak but his voice is too hoarse. Instead, he gets some string, ties the monkey to his belt, and says that the gift honors him. Then he advises Tree-ear that other people will be the biggest threat but also the biggest help on his journey.
Crane-man’s overwhelmed emotional reaction to Tree-ear’s gift, as well as the fatherly advice he continues to give Tree-ear about his journey, show the deep connection that he and Tree-ear have forged over the course of their adoptive parent-child relationship. Meanwhile, Tree-ear’s continued attempts to become an artist—laboring hard to mold and fire a gift for Crane-man in secret—show both his talent and his ambition.
Themes
