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The Old Jeonnam Provincial Office (sometimes also known as the South Jeolla Provincial Office) was the seat of the Gwangju municipal government. In the 1980 uprising, the Provincial Office became the center of student-led protests. It is fitting, then, that in Human Acts, the Provincial Office is the place where Dong-ho first meets fellow activists Jin-su, Eun-sook, and Seon-ju.
Provincial Office Quotes in Human Acts
The Human Acts quotes below are all either spoken by Provincial Office or refer to Provincial Office. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1: The Boy, 1980
Quotes
“Let’s go home,” she says. You give your wrist a violent wrench, trying to shake free of her grip. The insistent, desperate strength in that grip is frightening, somehow, making you think of someone drowning. You have to use your other hand to pry her fingers away, one by one. “The army is coming. Let’s go home, now.”
[…] You turn around and call back to her: “We’re going to close up here at six, Mum.” […] You call again, louder this time: “Once we've closed up, I'll come home. I promise.”
[…] “Make sure you do,” she says. “Be back before the sun sets. We’ll all have dinner together.”
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Epilogue: The Writer, 2013
Quotes
I didn’t pray. I didn't close my eyes, or observe a minute silence. The candles burned steadily. Their orange flames undulating soundlessly, gradually being sucked into the center and hollowed out. Only then did I notice how incredibly cold my ankles were. Without realizing it, I’d been kneeling in a snowdrift that covered Dong-ho’s grave. The snow had soaked through my socks, seeping in right through to my skin. I stared, mute, at that flame’s wavering outline, fluttering like a bird’s translucent wing.
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Get the entire Human Acts LitChart as a printable PDF.
Provincial Office Term Timeline in Human Acts
The timeline below shows where the term Provincial Office appears in Human Acts. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: The Boy, 1980
It’s 1980, and Dong-ho, identified only as “the boy,” is standing outside the Provincial Office of Gwangju. It looks like it’s about to rain, but the clouds have yet to...
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The rest of the older students working in the Provincial Office have gone to the group funeral, but Dong-ho stays behind. From a distance, he hears...
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...time Dong-ho came into contact with these bodies, they were still being stored in the Provincial Office , having not yet been moved to the gym. He had wandered into the Office...
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...of high school, while Seon-ju works in a dressmaker’s shop. Both had rushed to the Provincial Office to give blood to the wounded. But when they realized how confused and understaffed the...
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...puberty has not yet lowered his voice. Jin-su, the quiet, “almost feminine” leader of the Provincial Office volunteers, was initially surprised that a boy so young as Dong-ho would want to work...
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Everyone splits the labor at the Provincial Office : Eun-sook and Seon-ju work to clean the bodies, Dong-ho covers them, and Jin-su creates...
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When the Provincial Office started filling up with bodies, Dong-ho tried to move some of the corpses outside. When...
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...friend. Dong-ho studies Seon-ju’s composed face and wonders if she will stay behind in the Provincial Office to wait for death. Seon-ju says that she’s tired and then goes to take a...
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Chapter 3: The Editor, 1985
...she had seen the glittering jets of water as an attack. Eun-sook had called the Provincial Office in tears, wondering how the fountain—which had been turned off since the beginning of the...
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...remembers that fateful evening: after dinner, she sneaks out from her house, returning to the Provincial Office. When she gets there, the women are arguing about whether they should carry guns. Seon-ju,...
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...the army is returning. The voice implores all citizens to come in front of the Provincial Office , explaining that “we have resolved to fight to the end.” Eun-sook stays put, listening...
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...was still dry that day. But now, no matter how any times Eun-sook calls the Provincial Office , no one will turn the fountain off.
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Chapter 5: The Factory Girl, 2002
...nightmares, just as the dead bodies Seon-ju used to clean and sort at the Gwangju Provincial Office haunt her memories.
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Feeling entranced by the chants, Seon-ju followed the bus all the way to the Gwangju Provincial Office. Though the protests in Gwangju had begun with university students, now, the square in the...
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