Min Jin Lee’s Underdog Morality

In Min Jin Lee's new novel, American Hagwon, the main character Danbi seduces married men, falsely accuses a colleague of sexual harassment, and embezzles money. However, unlike in Lee's previous novel, Pachinko, which featured a clear villain, American Hagwon lacks a traditional antagonist. Instead, the novel focuses on the forces that shape its characters, such as Danbi's rural upbringing, alcoholic stepfather, and urgent need to survive amidst an economic crisis.

Set during the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the story follows several families as they navigate life in South Korea, Australia, and the United States. A hagwon, or private tutoring center, serves as a microcosm of the Korean families' anxieties about securing their children's future success. Through her characters, Lee adopts a social realist approach similar to that of 19th-century authors like George Eliot, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy.

She examines how ordinary people grapple with the pressures of elite education, which many Koreans view as a safeguard against failure, resulting in significant financial and emotional strain for both parents and children. Despite the novel's moral leanings, Lee is not a relativist. On Radio Atlantic, Lee explained her stance on morality, stating that most people inherently crave it.

In her conversation with Radio Atlantic, Lee discussed her motivation for writing American Hagwon, including her own experience navigating the American school system, her mother's permissive attitude towards education, and the extensive interviews she conducted with Korean parents, students, and hagwon teachers. Lee also reflected on her recurring theme in all of her novels: the displacement of people, which she believes is the modern person's permanent condition.