full title A Gesture Life
author Chang-rae Lee
type of work Novel
genre Psychological realism
language English
time and place written Mid to late 1990s in Bergen County, New Jersey
date of first publication September 6, 1999
publisher Riverhead Books
narrator Doc Hata narrates the events of
A Gesture Life from the novel’s present time, in 1993.
point of view
The narrator, Doc Hata, speaks in the first person about past events as well as events unfolding in the present. Doc Hata narrates from his own subjective perspective, commenting on his life and experience and speculating about the lives and experiences of others.
tone Elegiac, searching
tense Present
setting (time) 1993, with flashbacks to the early-to-mid 1940s and the mid-to-late 1970s
setting (place) Westchester County, New York
protagonist Franklin “Doc” Hata
major conflict The novel’s main conflict plays out in the tumultuous relationship between Doc Hata and his adopted daughter, Sunny. Doc Hata recalls the various stages of their strained family dynamics and his trouble raising such a willful, angry, and rebellious youth.
rising action Doc Hata recollects his failed relationships with K, a Korean comfort woman he met during World War II, and Mary Burns, an American woman he dated while Sunny was young. In the present time, he also strikes up a tentative friendship with Anne Hickey, a woman who bought Doc Hata’s now-failing medical supply business with her husband. Even as Doc Hata’s friendships with women in the past and present shed light on his inability to develop sustained relationships, he struggles to connect with Sunny through her son, Tommy.
climax A series of tragic and near-tragic accidents take place in quick succession, including Anne Hickey’s fatal car accident, James Hickey’s gruesome leg injury at his wife’s funeral, Tommy’s near drowning at the beach, and Renny’s heart attack. The confluence of events convinces Doc Hata that he stands “at the vortex of bad happenings,” and that he must take decisive action to prevent further harm to those around him.
falling action Doc Hata acknowledges his deep regret about arranging for Sunny to have a late-term abortion when she was eighteen. Though he broaches the subject with Sunny, he doesn’t tell her that he assisted the doctor who performed the surgery.
themes The Challenge of Assimilation; Parent-Child Relationships; The Danger of Inaction
motifs Race; Disappearance; The Present
symbols The Black Flag; Doc Hata’s House; The Heart
foreshadowing Lee uses foreshadowing subtly in the novel, and it usually takes the form of a veiled reference to a particularly important or traumatic past event, such as Sunny’s abortion or K’s murder, that Doc Hata will not elaborate on until later in the novel.
