61 pages • 2 hours read
Linda Sue ParkA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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The story begins in the coastal village of Ch’ulp’o in Korea during the 12th century. The village is widely known for its delicate celadon pottery. Aside from the town’s prosperous potters, it is also inhabited by an old man named Crane-man and a 12-year-old orphan named Tree-ear: “Tree-ear was so called after the mushroom that grew in wrinkled half-circles on dead or fallen tree trunks, emerging from the rotten wood without benefit of parent seed. A good name for an orphan, Crane-man said” (21).
Crane-man was given his nickname because of his twisted foot and calf that require him to stand on one leg like a crane. The two companions live under a bridge and survive by foraging in the woods and rummaging through the garbage heaps of the town’s residents for scraps of food.
One day, Tree-ear finds himself following a farmer with a leaky rice bag. He debates whether to call out to the man and tell him about the hole in the bag or to scoop up the rice for himself. Tree-ear alerts the farmer, who lets him keep the fallen rice, but the boy later questions whether his hesitation in telling the farmer was an act of stealing, which Crane-man has warned him about: “Stealing and begging, Crane-man said, made a man no better than a dog. ‘Work gives a man dignity, stealing takes it away,’ he often said” (20). However, since the farmer gave his consent, collecting the fallen rice was not stealing.
On another scavenging expedition to the trash piles, Tree-ear comes across a master potter named Min, who is working outdoors. Fascinated, the boy returns day after day to see Min shaping pottery on the wheel in his backyard.
One day, Tree-ear notices that Min isn’t around, so the boy sneaks into his yard to take a closer look at Min’s pottery. He is enchanted by the craftsmanship of the pieces he handles. He picks up a nested box and is so enthralled that he doesn’t hear Min returning. Startled, Tree-ear drops the box and damages it. Min is very angry, but Tree-ear offers to work for free as a way of atoning for his crime. Min says:
Come tomorrow at daybreak, then. Three days it took me to make that box, so you will give me nine days’ work in return. I cannot even begin to think how much greater the value of my work is than yours, but we will settle on this for a start (31).
The next morning, Tree-ear is excited at the chance to work for Min, but he soon realizes he won’t be learning to make pots. His task is to trudge into the forest and cut wood for the town’s communal kiln. The work is arduous, and Tree-ear develops a deep blister that bleeds and becomes infected. That evening, Crane-man makes a poultice to heal the cut.
Min doesn’t even notice the boy’s injury and criticizes Tree-ear for not stacking the wood at the end of the day. However, he does invite Tree-ear to come back the following morning. “Tree-ear’s joy at being forgiven was like a wisp of smoke; Min’s orders for the day blew it into nothingness. His task was the same as the previous day’s—to fill the cart with wood, and this time unload it at the kiln site” (37).
At the end of nine days, Tree-ear begs to continue working for Min even though the potter cannot pay him. He is now given the task of cutting and bringing back heavy lumps of clay from the clay pits by the riverbank. Though the work is equally tiresome, Tree-ear realizes that Min is required by law to feed him lunch even if he isn’t a paid apprentice. Min’s kindly wife presents Tree-ear with a generous bowl of food. That evening, he guiltily realizes that he should have saved half of it for Crane-man. The next day, he brings his own bowl but only eats half and hides the rest to take home to his friend.
Tree-ear works for Min for two months. Each day, he finds his lunch bowl refilled after he has eaten. Mrs. Min apparently realizes that the boy needs more food. He dutifully shares this bounty with Crane-man each evening. The boy has now graduated to the task of mixing the hard clay with water to form mud. This sludge is then taken to an area where it can drain and settle for a few days. Often, Min isn’t satisfied with a single rinsing and requires the operation to be repeated multiple times until the consistency of the clay is fine enough to suit him.
Tree-ear overhears other potters talking about how slowly Min works. He is a perfectionist—his pottery is better than anyone else’s and commands higher prices. However, customers get tired of waiting for the finished product. “A royal commission was the dream of all potters, but Tree-ear sensed somehow that it was more than a dream for Min. It was his life’s desire” (53).
By this time, summer arrives, so Crane-man goes to gather some ripe plums. He and Tree-ear are doing well, but Tree-ear is annoyed because he can’t find a way to sufficiently thank Min’s wife for her kindness:
It was a weightless enough worry during as fine a time as Tree-ear could remember—golden days, warm nights, work to do, and food to eat. And Crane-man often said there was no better finish to a meal than a sweet ripe plum (54).
The book’s initial section introduces all the major characters and establishes their relationships with one another. The theme of Lost and Found Families is explored in Tree-ear’s relationships with Crane-man and Min’s wife. Both Tree-ear and Crane-man lost their families years earlier and have formed a strong father-son bond. The temptation to steal is great for those who have nothing, yet Crane-man teaches Tree-ear that theft is a dishonorable way to live. The mention of robbers as dogs will echo in later chapters when both foxes and robbers threaten Tree-ear. Tree-ear’s loyal nature also cements this familial bond: Tree-ear is determined to share his free lunch with Crane-man, despite being hungry enough to eat it all. Finally, the way that Min’s wife quietly refills the lunch bowl so that Tree-ear can help his friend shows her kindness and foreshadows her eventual adoption of Tree-ear.
These chapters focus on the art of pottery making and the keen interest that both Tree-ear and Min take in its creation. They come from opposite ends of the social spectrum—Tree-ear is a penniless orphan, while Min is a celebrated master craftsman. However, both are united in their dream of creating beautiful celadon pottery. Both appreciate the beauty of pottery and the skills and knowledge required to make it.
To explain to readers the arduous nature of the pottery-making process, the author places Tree-ear in the role of apprentice; readers see through his eyes the monotonous and back-breaking labor required to support a master potter’s workshop. At the same time, readers learn what a perfectionist Min is. When Tree-ear first sees him at work, Min discards what appears to be a perfect vase. Min’s eye for detail and refusal to tolerate any flaws reveal his obsession with his craft.
By Linda Sue Park
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