How Did Kapitan Ri Influence Korea

Kapitan Ri is about a doctor named Yi. He lived through Chinese influence, Japanese influence, Russian influence, and American influence in Korea. Yi was very skilled and runs his own clinic in Korea. He was a very rich man as well. He was very influenced by the different countries that controlled Korea during his lifetime. Kapitan Ri is a criticism of the Korean nation. Older generation Koreans will think down on people like Ri, while people judge Koreans differently when they are from America. Kapitan Ri seems to critises the Korean nation as a whole. Korea throughout recent history has not been in control of trig own county. China controlled Korean first. They influenced Korea very much, the korean language is based off of the Chinese
language. After the chinese moved out the Japanese moved in and controlled the Korean people. This was during the Japanese empire during World War Two. Yi was very influenced by the Japanese. He learned how to speak Japanese so he could fit in with the culture. He learned how they act and he learned their culture. Then the Russians came in after World War Two and heavily influenced the Korean people. Yi was actually imprisoned by the Russians. He was there for a while until the Russians found out about his skills as a doctor. He was then pulled out of prison and became a doctor for the russian people. He again adapted and changed to match who was controlling Korea. The final, and current, influence was the Americans. Once Korea split into north and south there was a war and America took the side of the South. This book uses Yi as a criticism of how people acted while all these countries controlled and influenced Korea.
Many people conformed to the society around them and some say they lost their native Korean. They were not true to themselves. Yi changed whenever a new country took control. He grew up with the chinese influence. Yi learned Japanese when they Japanese took control. He then learned how to speak Russian when Russia controlled them. And the final thing Yi did, was that he wanted to move out of Korea to America. He was willing ot leave the place he was born and abandon everything about hom that was Korean. Yi did what he had to to be successful, but in doing that he lost his Korean
background. Older generation Koreans would look down on a person like Yi. Yi did not stay true to his Korean roots. An older Korean would not approve of how he changed just because of the culture around him. A true Korean would stick to their roots and not change just because they are controlled. They would not conform to the enemy and change who they are. Older Koreans, who lived before Korea was controlled by foreign powers, have a different view on what it means to be Korean. Yi does not live up to that view because he changes. As a reader in modern day United States I judge Yi in a very different way than a native Korean.
America has never been controlled by an outside power, so I do not know what is it like to all of the sudden have a foreign language spoke on every street. I think Yi did exactly what I would do if I were put into his situation. He adapted to what was around him and tried to fit in. In America that is not a foreign concept, everyone wants to fit in. Here in America, immigration is a typical occurrence. I know that this is the best place to live in the world at this point in time, and when Yi would have lived as well. So, I do not think of Yi wanting to move to America as strange at all, I actually would encourage it. He can find a better life here than in Korea. To an American Yi is doing the right thing, while to a Korean, he is a
disgrace. Yi lived through a very tough time in Korean history. It was a time where Korean was never really Korea, someone always controlled them. So Yi changed and adapted to who controlled them. To a Korean this is a terrible thing to do and is frowned upon. But to someone like me in America, his actions are seen as normal and are actually encouraged. “Kapitan Ri” criticises the way the Koreans acted by changing who they were because of who they were controlled by. Always stay true to who you are, whether it is another country controlling your culture or it is just a friend who wants to change you. Stay true to yourself, you do not have to change. Be who you are first and impress people later.