Tatoo Paper #2

          The pursuit of happiness is a quest desired by many. We are all seeking a better life, a better story to leave for the next chapter. If we see humanity as an infinite library, each generation fills the pages with struggles and lessons overcome for the benefit of the next generation. Yet the sacrifices of one generation are often overlooked. The story of Mamasan and Claudia paint a clear picture of perpetuating history all the while trying to shift the current story.

            Mamasan had begun her journey as a comfort woman during the war. Being at the disposal of men was her reality. “After her youth was swallowed up by the appetites of young men, she’d fled from Korea poor, pregnant, and disgraced” (McKinney 129). So, she sought a new life and picked up her bags and headed east. Ken related Mamasan’s story to his own when he said, “immigrants from Asia looking for something better, just like my ancestors, instead finding the same damn thing” (McKinney 106).And that ‘same damn thing’ included more exploitation and more money-hungry driven motives. We are all conditioned by our history, and what Mamasan knew was that of her “comfort” past. Thus rose her kingdom where she created her own empire at the expense of other young, eager girls. It was “a real rags-to-riches story”(McKinney 104).

            At Club Mirage “on any given night, every type of thirsty man came crawling in” (McKinney 108). And Mamasan catered to every one of them. My question is, what is creating this kind of “drought” for men and what exactly ‘quenches’ this thirst? It is this appetite for accommodation that damages the very ones who are forced to accommodate. Ken said it well amidst his own destruction while working for Mamasan when he stated, “I figured I had found my religion, hedonism, and it was led by a god who didn’t answer dreams, but instead drowned them out in a pleasant way” (McKinney 104). The dreams that Mamasan originally had for her daughter, Claudia, were drowned out by the instant gratification of money, power and status within her own right. And therefore “history dried up, and in its place rose an imported way of life” (McKinney 97).

            The irony in the relationship between Claudia and her mother is that a double standard had been set, and therefore no real progress was allowed to unfold.

Claudia said, “My mother knows the lifestyle sucks, and yet she perpetuates it for her own profit. I don’t get it” (McKinney 130). This is a prime example where Mamasan is working within the system to gain resources for her family, yet is then confined and trapped to that life and nothing beyond. So in one way she is giving opportunities to her family through money and direction, but the reality is, her direction is stagnant. She is worshipping the idol of money to solve her problems. Ken said “after a while I became what she was, I became a son who worshiped the same idol” (McKinney 106).

            Claudia knew the work her mother was doing was for her benefit but she also knew that it didn’t change anything. She said “my mother let the ugliness of her past rule her” (McKinney 129). To me, this is the moral of the story. No matter what strides we take for the betterment of the future, we are all in some ways ruled by our past. Those demons we’ve all faced along the way have created a new space inside us, created a newfound capacity for growth. It’s how we manage that new space that defines our next chapter. We can see it in Mamasan being a slave to her own empire. We can see it Claudia not being able to reach far enough beyond her current situation. We can see it in the violence and destruction of Ken and his family. So the bigger question is: in our lifetime, are we every really able to change our past for a better future? And if we are, how persistent does the next generation have to be in order to maintain that new precedent? “One leads while the other blindly follows. It takes trust” (McKinney 125). We are all blindly following the path our ancestors have paved. It’s a matter of trusting that road and knowing when to begin our own path for our next generation that determines the future.