Complete Opposites
When comparing Sunja's two love interests, there are several qualities of theirs that are complete opposites of the other. Hansu is from Japan while Isak has only known Korea. Hansu is incredibly wealthy whereas Isak's is barely scarping by in Japan. While Isak is the sickly youngest son, Hansu is the powerful head of his family. Even comparing their names, Hansu's first name is Korean while "Isak" is of Hebrew origin. In many of their general aspects, the two characters are opposites of one another.
With Sunja
In addition to their qualities, the characters' relationships to Sunja are opposite one another. Sunja and Hansu have the chemistry: they both love each other, and despite what's happened Sunja is still in love with him. However, Hansu is not willing to sacrifice for her, and for this reason they cannot be together. With Isak, it is the opposite. There is no romantic love between them, although they both believe that it could happen one day. Despite this, Isak sacrifices his dignity (raising a child who is not his) and martyrs himself in the eyes of his religion for Sunja. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and Isak stays loyal but unloving to Sunja, or if he begins to follow Hansu's path and falls for her.
What's most interesting to me about Hansu is that he genuinely believes that he is sacrificing a lot for her, a lot being a hefty sum of money. It's shocking, given that during the time in which the story takes place, there's no way that Hansu wouldn't understand that Sunja would be sacrificing infinitely more than him in his ideal scenario.
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