LAUGHING THROUGH HISTORY 18 'That Woman is Crazy Over Money'

Korean money circa 1912 / Courtesy of Robert Neff Collection

Readers tend to sympathize with the main character of any story, even when flawed. But there’s a limit to what a reader will accept; if the protagonist crosses a line, they become unsympathetic. This is largely intuitive, depending on the relationship between the story and the reader’s norms and values.

The joke I’m translating below centers on a conflict between a man and woman. Although most of the jokes in “Kkalkkal Useum” center on family relationships, these two are strangers. It seems to present the man sympathetically, if a bit of a trickster, while criticizing the woman for greed. But as a reader, it’s hard for me to interpret the joke that way — the woman seems pretty reasonable, although it was probably a bad idea for her to let the man into her house to begin with, and the man who camps out in her lavatory and refuses to leave seems like — I’m being as generous to him as possible here — a bit of an odd duck.

Would the original audience have sympathized with the man and criticized the woman, as the title implies? If so, what were the values and norms guiding such a reading? It's striking to me that of all the things the woman could have been criticized for, including a lack of foresight, or failure to maintain appropriate separation between men and women, the failing that the text actually does criticize her for is avarice! After all, her willingness to take advantage of circumstances to turn a quick profit could just as easily be presented as a virtue.

That Woman is Crazy Over Money

A man was walking down the street when suddenly he felt the need to relieve himself. When he looked around, he didn't see any out-of-the-way spots, so he walked right into the nearest house without caring whose it was. It was a small house, so there was no lavatory in the room for receiving guests. He called out, "Is anyone there?"

When a maidservant appeared, he gave her two coins and said, “Tell the lady of the house that if she lets me use her lavatory, I’ll take care of my urgent business and be on my way.”

The maidservant told her mistress exactly what he'd said, and the lady agreed because of the money. But after the man was finished he stayed inside the lavatory, in no hurry to go.

The lady of the house felt awkward, so she had the maidservant tell him, "If you're done, please be on your way."

The man replied, "I paid for this lavatory, and I'm not leaving until I sell it."

The lady of the house worried that when her husband came home he would scold her, money or no, so she gave back the coins and said, "Please just go."

Have you ever heard of such a narrow-minded perspective?

G.S. Hand is a graduate of the Translation Academy at LTI Korea and winner of the Fiction Grand Prize of the 53rd Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards, and has a master’s degree in Modern Korean Literature from Korea University. He lives in Seoul.