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Ben
A transgender woman who works in Rosie’s medical clinic in Thailand. K is the clinic’s mechanic, and she is also the nurse, social worker, physical therapist, and security detail. K’s husband is Burmese, and they have four children together—two girls and two boys—who were orphaned during the conflict in Myanmar. K and Rosie become close friends, and K tells Rosie that there is no stigma attached to being transgender—kathoey—in Thailand. K stands for kathoey, which is “ladyboy” in Hindi, and she says there are lots of kathoey in Thailand. “We all Buddhist,” K says. “Is karma. Is life. Is just another way to be.” K also teaches Rosie about Buddha and the “middle way,” which is finding a way to be happy in a world that isn’t always pleasant and accepting. Finding the middle way is difficult, K says, and it is done over many lifetimes. “Learn mistake and fix and tell. Not-knowing to knowing.” K represents the transgender community in Frankel’s novel, and she helps Rosie to understand that Poppy’s gender isn’t something to attach a stigma to and that being transgender “is just another way to be.”
K Quotes in This Is How It Always Is
The This Is How It Always Is quotes below are all either spoken by K or refer to K. 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:
).
Part III: Under Pants
Quotes
“Very shelter life in palace so ignorant of poverty, sickness, old age, death. Then he go out into world and learn. Then he help. That is important part. Once he learn, he listen and tell, he help. He leave family, leave palace, leave being a prince.” Rosie nodded along. This part sounded familiar. “He learn about the world and the people. He meditate to learn to be. He give up all food and water and house, but then his body too loud to achieve peace so he learn again: too little as bad as too much. He teach, tell his story, help people see truth. He say be kind and forgive, honest and share. He say everything change so okay. He say middle way. He enlighten. That is the story. Learn mistake and fix and tell. Not-knowing to knowing. Even the Buddha You see?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire This Is How It Always Is LitChart as a printable PDF.
K Quotes in This Is How It Always Is
The This Is How It Always Is quotes below are all either spoken by K or refer to K. 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:
).
Part III: Under Pants
Quotes
“Very shelter life in palace so ignorant of poverty, sickness, old age, death. Then he go out into world and learn. Then he help. That is important part. Once he learn, he listen and tell, he help. He leave family, leave palace, leave being a prince.” Rosie nodded along. This part sounded familiar. “He learn about the world and the people. He meditate to learn to be. He give up all food and water and house, but then his body too loud to achieve peace so he learn again: too little as bad as too much. He teach, tell his story, help people see truth. He say be kind and forgive, honest and share. He say everything change so okay. He say middle way. He enlighten. That is the story. Learn mistake and fix and tell. Not-knowing to knowing. Even the Buddha You see?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
