Itaewon is the international district of Seoul, South Korea. Itaewon has a population of roughly 22,000 people and is popular among tourists and U.S. Military stationed in South Korea. Sometimes known as the "western district" Itaewon is similar to American Chinatowns (Wiki). This makes it an interesting choice for Changhoon to decide to bring Nina to Itaewon. As Jane says, in Patricia Park's novel, Re Jane: A Novel, "Why Nina will want to come to Korea only to see American faces--" (213). Changhoon reasons that Nina will probably feel more comfortable around American faces (213). Park probably included Itaewon because it is the most typical tourist location American citizens would visit. It may even be comparable to New York City. Nina’s book Seoul for New Yorkers gives a fitting description. “This “foreigner friendly” nabe is now chockablock with the latest fusion lounges, clubs and restaurants more multi then a Benneton ad” (Park 218). But aside from Itaewon being an intercultural hub and a common tourist attraction, I can’t help but think Park may have had a more symbolic reason for including it at this crucial point in the story. According to a Wikipedia entry on Itaewon, “The name Itaewon was originally derived from the name of an inn located there during the Joseon Dynasty. Today it's called Itaewon alluding to its abundance of pear trees. According to a folktale, the name was also written using different Hanja characters that alluded to foreign babies” (Wiki). Itaewon is not only symbolic of Jane and her struggle to fit in and find her place as a foreign baby in both America and South Korea, but also represents a homeliness through the allusion to the pears. The Korean pears are a recurring symbol throughout the story. Sang gives them to Hannah after they fight. They remind Jane of Food. And Big Uncle teaches Jane how to properly slice and deskin a pear, as one of the only times he is intimate and warm with her. He even tells her she won’t get a husband if she can’t properly deskin a pear. Beth Mazer tells Jane not to waste the pear by skinning it and this creates an interesting culture clash, which is essentially what Itaewon is. Itaewon, named for its pears signals the familiar for Jane, yet is also a turning point where the familiar begins to fade. After her time with Nina in Itaewon, she is faced with the choice of keeping her new home or losing touch with everything that she knows. Whether Jane stays in South Korea or goes back to New York, she will always feel like somewhat of an outsider. She is like Itaewon, a foreigner in her (technically) home country. It was a smart craft choice on Park’s part, to use Itaewon to create friction for Jane at this part of the story. Up until this point, it had been semi easy for Jane to avoid difficult thoughts of the past and her old home in New York. “It was the first time since my arrival that I saw anything other than the steady stream of Korean people” (219). Itaewon reminded Jane of her otherness, and in that way was a very powerful literary tactic.

Works Cited

Parks, Patricia, Re Jane, Viking Penguin Publishing Group Penguin Random House LLC, 2015, ISBN 978-0-525-42740-7 accessed 4/3/22

Wikipedia, Itaewon, accessed 4/3/22, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itaewon