Crying in H Mart Chapters 1–3 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 1: Crying in H Mart

Michelle, the narrator and author, begins her story by stating that after the death of her mother she routinely cries in H Mart, a Korean supermarket chain where she does her weekly grocery shopping. She describes H Mart as a place for Asian Americans to seek out foods that remind them of home, noting that unlike most grocery stores in America there is no “ethnic food” section, allowing the store-goers an escape from that othering term. Michelle reflects on how her Korean mother was her main connection to her Korean heritage, and remembers past trips to Korea to visit her mother’s family. She says that her mother was tough and critical, but showed love by cooking her family their favorite Korean dishes. Michelle goes to her local H Mart and observes various customers eating in the cafeteria, remarking that she visits the store to feel closer to her mother and her heritage, allowing her to reconnect with the Korean side of her identity.

Chapter 2: Save Your Tears

Michelle’s mother dies of cancer when she is fifty-six and Michelle is twenty-five; Michelle says that although she is constantly forgetting her mother’s death date, she remembers everything her mother liked to eat. In Michelle’s story of how her parents met, her father flies to South Korea to be a car salesman for the U.S. military and meets her mother, who works at the hotel he is staying at. After Michelle’s birth in Seoul, the family moves to Oregon, where Michelle grows up in a house in the woods. She feels isolated from everyone but her mother, whom she is simultaneously attached to and exhausted by. Michelle’s mother is a collector of QVC products and decorative breakables, and the contrast between her need for physical perfection and Michelle’s destructive tendencies is a consistent point of tension. Michelle is terrified of being abandoned or orphaned, and compulsively cleans house in an attempt to win her parents’ favor. What truly endears her to her family, though, is her sophisticated palate and willingness to try new foods.

Chapter 3: Double Lid

Michelle and her mother visit family in South Korea every other summer, where they spend time eating, shopping, and playing games with Michelle’s three aunts, her grandmother Halmoni, and Seong Young, Michelle’s only cousin, who she looks up to with great fondness. Michelle bonds with her mother on these trips, eating late night snacks together and watching the women gamble. For one night during their stay they dine with Michelle’s grandfather, who left Halmoni for another woman and started a new family; he now reaches out only to ask Michelle’s mother for money, which she gives to him.

Michelle discovers that her Caucasian features, like her double eyelids, make people consider her attractive in Korea, and on a family trip to the Korean Folk Village she is scouted by a talent agent. Despite Michelle’s excitement, her mother waves off the offer. In hindsight, Michelle sees this as her mother characteristically knowing what is best for her in the long run. When Michelle is fourteen, Halmoni dies and Michelle’s mother openly grieves, displaying a level of emotion Michelle is shocked to witness for the first time.

Next section Chapters 4–6