Human Acts

by

Han Kang

The interrogator works at Eun-sook’s local police station. When he learns that Eun-sook has worked with the wanted translator to publish a controversial play in Korean, he slaps her seven times, startling her with his brutality. For a week, Eun-sook remains haunted by these slaps; she especially struggles with the fact that the interrogator looks “utterly ordinary”; “had they met on the street,” Eun-sook thinks, “she would have taken him for some run-of-the-mill company manager.”

The Interrogator Quotes in Human Acts

The Human Acts quotes below are all either spoken by The Interrogator or refer to The Interrogator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Human Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: The Editor, 1985 Quotes

His face was utterly ordinary. Thin lips, no noticeable irregularities to his features. He wore a pale yellow shirt with a wide collar, and his gray suit trousers were held up by a belt. Its buckle gleamed. Had they met by chance in the street, she would have taken him for some run-of-the-mill company manager or section chief.

“Bitch. A bitch like you, in a place like this? Anything could happen, and no one would find out.”

At this point, the force of the slap had already burst the capillaries in her cheek and the man's fingernails had broken her skin. But Eun-sook hadn't known that yet.

Related Characters: The Interrogator (speaker), Dong-ho, Eun-sook, Jin-su, President Chun Doo-hwan, The Translator
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Human Acts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Human Acts PDF

The Interrogator Quotes in Human Acts

The Human Acts quotes below are all either spoken by The Interrogator or refer to The Interrogator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Human Connection Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: The Editor, 1985 Quotes

His face was utterly ordinary. Thin lips, no noticeable irregularities to his features. He wore a pale yellow shirt with a wide collar, and his gray suit trousers were held up by a belt. Its buckle gleamed. Had they met by chance in the street, she would have taken him for some run-of-the-mill company manager or section chief.

“Bitch. A bitch like you, in a place like this? Anything could happen, and no one would find out.”

At this point, the force of the slap had already burst the capillaries in her cheek and the man's fingernails had broken her skin. But Eun-sook hadn't known that yet.

Related Characters: The Interrogator (speaker), Dong-ho, Eun-sook, Jin-su, President Chun Doo-hwan, The Translator
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis: