Sookan In The Year Of Impossible Goodbyes

Over the course of Year of Impossible Goodbyes a lot happens to Sookan that makes her change. The first thing that happens to Sookan which is probably the most significant change is when the Japanese authorities feel that Sookan’s family is getting too rebellious. So the Japanese cut down the family's tree, which they care deeply about. Another way Sookan changes is she is allowed to rub her grandfather’s feet. When rubbing his feet, she finds how severely tortured he was by the Japanese. The last major change Sookan goes through is when her guide betrays Sookan and rats her family out to the communist authorities. By the end of the book, Sookan realizes that life is hard and that if you want something you have to take control and get what you want.

Their solution was chopping grandfather’s tree down, the one thing they know the family cherishes deeply. Shortly after the death of the tree her grandfather’s health begins to spiral, he is very weak and dies. This all happens on page (29 choi), "Aunt Tiger continued to cry bitterly as the police began hacking our tree to pieces. I wondered how Captain Narita knew that destroying the tree was the best way to punish Grandfather for writing Chinese and Hangul.” This changes Sookan because she realizes how she is never truly safe from the Japanese. She finds the anger to fight back and stand up for what she believes