Monday, June 14, 2010

Assignment #2 Story Map

This story is essentially a slightly embellished version of my own brother's adoption.
Most of the basics are true, with only a few extra details added (mostly the details about the letter written by the mother while she lived at Ae Ran Won).
The basic structure follows Campbell's map, but again with modifications.
Campbell's story map typically is drawn as a circle with a call to action, choice to act or ignore, passing tests along the way, and the final transformation. Campbell often believed "heroes" ended up where they began, in one way or another.
In this story, the boy is the hero. The boy saves his mother from a life ridden with guilt. She learns what real and nearly unconditional love is and how to forgive herself.
The simplified progression of the story is as follows:
  1. A woman is unwed and finds out she is pregnant.
  2. Place: South Korea; Time: 1980s (culturally "traditional" morals are very strong with little room for violations)
  3. Father does not know of the baby, as he is shipped off to military service (all Korean boys must serve the military for a predetermined # of years).
  4. Mother decides to move to Ae Ran Won, a refuge for unwed mothers-to-be to help them through the pregnancy & help them with the emotional & mental issues that come along with being an unwed mother (a situation that is culturally shunned).
  5. Baby boy is born.
  6. Boy is given up for adoption.
  7. Boy is adopted by family in USA & grows up in PA. Mother lives with guilt & never tells the father of the boy's birth. Boy & mother live in completely separate worlds.
  8. Boy lives with questions about his birth parents.
  9. While boy is in college, he studies abroad in Korea over a summer break.
  10. While in Korea, he begins paperwork to search for his biological parents.
  11. Months after returning to USA, boy is notified that his biological mother has been found.
  12. A telegraph is sent to the mother telling her that her biological son is trying to find her.
  13. Mother must tell father about his first-born son for the first time.
  14. Father is happy to hear of their son & mother is relieved at his reaction.
  15. Mother sends an old letter she wrote while at Ae Ran Won (part of their therapy) to her son.
  16. Son receives letter & is happy to hear a relationship is possible.
  17. Mother, father & son meet for the first time in 22 years. Mother is finally able to forgive herself & realizes her son has loved her all along.
Story Map Visual

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