54 pages • 1 hour read
Won-pyung Sohn, Transl. Joosun LeeAlmond
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Seon Yunjae
Seon Yunjae is the protagonist and first-person narrator of Almond. His perspective on the world is heavily shaped by his alexithymia, not just because of how it affects his emotions, but also because the pressure to appear neurotypical molds his development as a person. At the novel’s beginning, he develops certain patterns of behavior because his mother demands them of him; it is only after his mother falls into a coma that he begins to develop into an individual with his own desires, interests, and goals.
Echoing the labels assigned to him by his family, Yunjae characterizes himself as an emotionless “monster,” but the narrative and his inner thoughts reveal a complex person with a unique inner life. His interactions with others show him to be loyal, honest, and stubborn, often to a fault. He is capable of an intense love for others beyond what “normal” people are capable of, as demonstrated by his willingness to die for Gon. Thus, many of Yunjae’s traits of alexithymia are misunderstood by others. Rather than making him a dull and unresponsive character, as others often perceive him, his condition leaves him unable to stop himself or regulate certain responses, like fear. While he does not express his emotions loudly, in sharp contrast to Gon, he is also not as in control of himself as others think. His self-control is largely a front forced upon him by his mother which inhibits his behavior and thoughts.
The novel focuses heavily on Yunjae’s self-actualization and development. Trauma, both from events like the Christmas Eve attack that kills his grandmother and wounds his mother and from his mother’s demands that he mask his neurodivergence, leads him to suppress much of his personality and perspective. Over the course of the novel, he grows from a person without a real identity into a person with a unique, personal view of the world. Yunjae’s quest for self-definition begins with Gon, as his self-imposed blankness of personality makes him the perfect person to occupy Gon’s place in the world in a meaningless, inoffensive way. Gon’s objection to this—and the ensuing realization that their resemblance to one another is artificial—allows Yunjae to develop his own identity through contrast. He discovers that his inability to feel a “normal” sort of empathy does not prevent him from showing others kindness and love, and that feeling strong empathy, as Gon does, sometimes results in destructive and cruel behavior.
Yunjae is additionally characterized by his loneliness. He believes that he cannot understand others and they cannot—or will not—understand him, yet he is shown throughout the novel to have many people in his life who care about him. Although he has many people who love him, all of them try to change him in varying ways. His change into a more self-aware person at the end of the novel could be interpreted positively or negatively. Is Yunjae genuinely his own person, or is he once again the product of others demanding he become more like them? While he does become his own person, it is also clear throughout that nobody is fully happy with Yunjae as he is, leaving his development at the end ambiguously happy or tragic, as the novel itself promises.
Gon
Gon, who goes by his chosen name rather than his birth name, Leesu Yun, is Yunjae’s foil and best friend. Gon is a traumatized, deeply empathetic, and overemotional teenager with a tendency to explode at the slightest offense or trigger. He is characterized throughout in contrast to Yunjae, who suppresses himself to meet expectations. Gon has already learned that he cannot be good enough for others and, as a result, does not try to be. He presents himself as an unruly delinquent, which contrasts with his academic, refined family’s expectations and with the demands of the world around him. Interestingly, however, his father’s consistently poor treatment of him—including beatings—shows that he is equal to or even better than them, regardless of what others believe.
Gon’s use of language characterizes him as coarse. His dialogue is peppered with swear words and slang, and when he first comes to Yunjae’s bookstore he buys nothing but pornography. Yet these are merely fronts for a deeply sensitive core. He longs for the love and connection he lost when he was separated from his parents. He uses the porn to build a relationship with Yunjae but uses harsh language and anger to keep him at arm’s length. He is inherently contradictory—terrified of love, and yet deeply capable of it. Yunjae’s lack of fear contrasts intensely with Gon, who is almost entirely driven by fear throughout. Where Yunjae demonstrates that empathy is unnecessary for treating others with love, Gon demonstrates that empathy can be a barrier to love and kindness.
Gon’s development throughout the novel is less a personality change and more an exposure to the empathy and trauma that has always been present. He remains rough and intense, but Yunjae’s growing understanding of who he is and what he needs exposes his softness and fear to the reader and Gon himself. As with Yunjae, Gon’s real personality and a real capacity for love were always inside him; both just needed someone to see them as inherently valuable for them to safely emerge.
Dora
Dora is Yunjae’s romantic interest and a foil to Gon. She is characterized throughout as unique, but likeably so. While her quirks and personality separate her from others, she is not an outcast like Gon and Yunjae. Rather, she enjoys her solitude and does not need others to thrive, something Yunjae, who is coping with his isolation, is drawn to.
Dora is characterized by her appearance and her interests. Her glasses serve as a symbol for her ability to shift between two primary personas. With her glasses on, she is a guarded, isolated person with a barrier between herself and the world; when she takes them off, she becomes a fierce and athletic runner taking on the world. This fluidity attracts Yunjae. She describes herself positively as a “freak” due to her single-minded love for running. Her athleticism and intensity affect all her relationships, as, in the end, she chooses track-and-field over Yunjae and refuses to fully budge on her opinion of Gon. Her presence as a romantic interest is thus limited, and by the end, she fades from importance entirely. Her character encapsulates the theme of Change and Growth as Inevitable and Neutral: as she and Yunjae each change and grow, they move apart, a fact which the novel presents as neither good nor bad.
Mom
Yunjae’s mother is almost exclusively referred to as “Mom” throughout the narrative. Mom is a relatively static supporting character who catalyzes Yunjae’s lack of emotional development. While Mom is characterized through her behavior and dialogue as a kind and nervous woman determined to be a good mother, she is also shown to be the unintentional source of much of Yunjae’s trauma. She is determined to be average and enjoys normality, leaving Yunjae wondering what her dreams were, if she ever had any to begin with. Her determination to survive after the loss of her husband by becoming “normal” has flattened what made her unique. In her pursuit of normalcy, she pressures Yunjae to mask the symptoms of his alexithymia, making him memorize dozens of rote definitions of and responses to human emotions. Though she intends to protect Yunjae from ridicule, her lessons confuse and alienate him further.
Yunjae describes his mother as having a nearly unchanging appearance. While she eventually grows old—an inevitability she welcomes—her lack of outward change demonstrates her resistance to the unfamiliar. She remains nearly the same person, demanding the same things from Yunjae, right up until the attack on Christmas Eve. Even after her miraculous recovery, Yunjae provides little indication that his mother has grown. Yunjae still meets her where she is, rather than the other way around.
Granny
Yunjae’s maternal grandmother, referred to throughout as “Granny,” is a flat supporting character who helps the novel’s first tragedy develop. While she is also important as a foil to Mom, her death ultimately drives Yunjae’s eventual emotional growth when he realizes she loves him enough to protect him from her fate. She is characterized as harsh, stubborn, and caring, and shares a special kinship with Yunjae, even though the harm of her choice to call him a “monster” lingers long after her death.
Granny’s physical description provides her primary characterization. Yunjae describes her as huge and nearly monstrous herself, providing some depth to her title for Yunjae. Her size symbolizes her ability to overshadow and drown others out. She attempts to control her daughter’s life in the same way her daughter tries to control Yunjae’s, but her final choice to block the glass door with her body to protect Yunjae indicates the ultimate purpose of this control: protection. Granny’s death shows the dual positive and negative impacts such behavior has. Her choice to block the door with her body saves Yunjae’s life, but the splatter of her blood on the glass traumatizes him.
Dr. Shim
Dr. Shim is Yunjae’s mentor figure and fills the role of the responsible adult after Granny’s death and Mom’s hospitalization. He looks older than he is, indicating his maturity and the grief he has experienced. He is depicted as a kind, understanding, optimistic man with a genuine interest in Yunjae’s well-being which springs from his genuine friendship with Yunjae’s mother and his own grief and loneliness. In many ways, he mirrors Yunjae’s experiences due to his own tragic losses, which helps Yunjae grow.
Dr. Shim himself is a static character in the novel’s present. He has already grown into a better person by the time Yunjae meets him; he provides, in some ways, a picture of what Yunjae could become with time. His title and skills contrast with his profession, further indicating his growth. He is not a doctor by profession, but a baker; in adulthood, he has realized what he values and found a way to incorporate his grief at his wife’s death into new life and progress.
