LOOKING FOR THE ELEPHANT BY JO KYUNG RAN

The story was about the author’s life during the past. She talked about how she got a Polaroid spectra
by her boyfriend during her birthday and their break-up a few days after her birthday. She also shared
the lives of her relatives; Her grandmother committed suicide during her birthday by cooking puffer fish
and eating it by herself. Her father left his hometown at the age of 9 after his mother’s death and moved
to Seoul. Her father’s youngest sister, Aunt Yonsook, committed suicide when she had a fight with her
lover, and her uncle Dosong died two years after her aunt Yonsook because of liver cancer. After their
deaths, she started to feel a strange presence in her room and started waking up in the middle of the
night because of it. After using up her 9 films, the last photo she took of was a great big elephant when
she slept holding her Polaroid camera.

She also shared about the house she has been living in when she was writing the story: A small single-
story house that her father brought and built. It also had a rooftop room where she lives in. It was
supposed to be her sister’s room, but she started moving her things in that room when her sister moved
for a while, and claimed it as hers. And when she had a bad day she often wanted to leave the house. On
a Sunday, she went to Seoul Grand Park and observed elephants; she also took their pictures.

She also felt that something was wrong with herself; she often goes out and wants to move out of their
house. One day, her boyfriend ((I assumed it’s her boyfriend)) came in their house and went house-
hunting with her. They checked around 4 houses but she didn’t like them, after that they ate warm soup
and rice. After it they also checked out an officetel, which she didn’t like either, they returned the key to
the room and ate chicken. When she returned home, less than a few hours after her arrival, her mother
went up to her rooftop room and told her about their house; which will be repossessed and put up for
auction, and they ended up sleeping on the street. They fought for their house. On the day she went to
the zoo, she took three photographs of the elephant.

She also shared her experiences with her colleagues, and how she often skips work. She would always
spend about 4 hours taking her break time, and during those times, she would eat outside while reading
a book, or she could be in a big bookstore across her work, or in art galleries. She also shared that she
hated herself for doing those things. She worked at that company for seven months, and resigned.

She also shared that at the age of three she was kidnapped by a middle-aged woman who cannot have
children. She was taken to a parlor to give her hair a perm, and when she had the chance to escape, the
owner of the parlor helped her and she got home. She said that if she wasn’t able to escape then, she
wouldn’t be living with her family today.

She also shared that she has bought many things in her room, so much that there is no room for a foot
to step on, and how she is worried that the room might soon collapse. She also shared that her ex-
boyfriend gave her a letter, and it was a letter she never once read again. And she wonders why they
broke up too.

She also shared that they went to Yeosu in 1996 and was reminiscing the fun memories she had with her
relatives. And she said that she is getting sad that most of the people she was with during that time
slowly dies. She shared that they are trying their best to keep the house, and she wishes that one of her
sisters would get married so that there would be lesser things in their house. She has also found other
ways to relieve her stress. And at the end of the story, she shared that she was just waiting for someone
to call her and talk about the elephant.