UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI

FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
KULTURE VZHODNE AZIJE
Januar 2017
Veronika Viintin

A story of Ongozip
Review

For this review I will write about the man named On and his story and the message the story brings.
The story of Ongozip speaks about a man nmed On, who was an extremly stubborn and mean
person. Even his name, Ongozip mean being stubborn as a mule, which he confirmed every day.
In every country, Korea especially, being respectful to your parents is of the upmost importance.
Ongozip failed to recognize that and was obnoxious and ill minded towards his mother, even wishing
her death. More than that, every time a monk came by his house, he orderd his servants to beat
them and drive them away from the house. He was enjoying his money and his evillness.
No one knows, how he got to be such a mean person and nobody had the guts to stand up to him.
But like in every korean fiction story, there has to be a lesson fort he bad behaiving person and here
also, On got what he deserved. The author explains through the story not to be greedy and
disrespectfull, but to treat every being, especially your parents and the servants of God with upmost
respect. Even if you are given the chances to redeem yourself, if you continue to be bad, life, or in
this case, a monk will teach you a lesson in humility on way or another.
After beating the monks with a stick continuosly, they have decided that it was enough, and the main
monk named Hak, sent a scarecrow shaped as Ongozip to his house. After a series of events, even
going to court, the real Ongozip ws driven away by others, facing the same faith he lay upon others
when he was still the man of the house. Because of his actions, he was now poor, dirty and hungry
and had no place to go. He was angry for a very long time, but when he finally realised it was him,
who had to change, he felt remorse and trough that got another chance in life.
I think the story tells us, that you have to respect other human beings and act accordingly, or ill faith
will teach you a lesson, but if you can feel sorry and learn from it, you can have another oppurtunity
to live a happy and peaceful life.