— Overview
The notes name Jo Chang-in and Gashigogi, then stop at the thought that parents and children need not be of one type.
— Contents and key concepts
A news story, and a book
Should Jo Chang-in’s Gashigogi be remembered as a sometime bestseller, the notes ask, or as a novel about a father’s love that tends a son with great care? They name the writer 조창인 and the book 가시고기. A few days before reading, the student had seen a news story about a father in his fifties, and had felt anger rise: how, inside a family, could someone with a human face do such a thing? Society, they write, now warns that those who attack others with violence and shame may not be strangers, but people at one’s side.
Even without that shameless case, they add, the way generations and the two sexes look at family has already changed a good deal. The novel speaks of what a father thinks of his child, and of what a son makes of his father, but in fact one should think of family in a wider sense.
Several kinds of father
The father in the novel gives his child an unconditional love, and sacrifices himself. But the types of father that appear in families are many. There is the self-sacrificing father already mentioned; there is the father who puts himself and his wife first, and thinks of his own problems later; there is the father who lives with his eye on social standing and personal honour, more than on the home. The same range, they say, appears in mothers as well, though the novel concentrates on types of father.
Children need not be of the same type
And what of the children? There are children who think they live inside a parent’s love, and who respect and honour their parents. There are independent children, close to their parents, who yet think they will stay only a while and must then stand alone. And there are types who barely think of their parents at all, placing themselves at the centre. The frames could be divided further, they write, but this is the rough outline.
The looks of parent and child cannot always be the same. Just as, if the parents are of type A, the children need not all be of type A. The notes leave the book at that outline, before a later shop heading. The same Korean report, written out more fully, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of Jo Chang-in’s Gashigogi: a string called family, several kinds of father, and children who need not be of the same type.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
How do the notes come to the book?
They name the writer 조창인, Jo Chang-in, and the novel 가시고기, Gashigogi. A few days before reading, the writer had seen a news story about a father, and had been angry that someone with a human face could do such a thing inside a family. Coming to the book, they ask how, in today’s homes, one should think of the string called family.
What types of father and child do they set out?
The father in the novel gives his child an unconditional love, and sacrifices himself. But fathers in families are of many kinds: the self-sacrificing father; the father who puts himself and his wife first, and his own problems later; the father who cares more for social standing and personal honour than for the home. The same range, they say, appears in mothers, though the novel concentrates on fathers. Among children there are those who live inside a parent’s love and honour them; those who are close but think they must soon stand alone; and those who barely think of their parents at all.
Where do they stop?
These are only rough frames, they write, and could be divided further. A parent and a child cannot always be of the same kind. If the parent is of type A, the children need not all be of type A. The notes leave the book there. Details that appear only in a shop lead are not used.
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