The Kite Fighters

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2000

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Family and Brotherhood

Through the characters of Lee Young-sup and Lee Kee-sup, Park explores the power of family and brotherhood, while also examining the difficulty of navigating tense relationships. Over the course of the novel, the brothers’ relationship undergoes significant changes: Once Kee-sup is capped, it fundamentally changes his place in Korean society, and societal norms require Young-sup to engage with him differently. The older they get, the more their birth order matters, which they both resent but cannot do anything about.

Neo-Confucianism also strictly relegated women to the home, and though wives and mothers were fundamental in running a household, their work and individual identities are nearly invisible in the novel, mirroring the real historical lack of acknowledgment Korean women experienced. The extreme patriarchal structure meant that a father had absolute authority over his family, which Young-sup and Kee-sup accept without question. As Kee-sup and Young-sup learn, the loyalty expected for the father or for an elder can conflict with loyalty to another, or even to oneself. This creates tension between the brothers and their father, but despite Young-sup’s doubts, Kee-sup demonstrates his utmost loyalty and love for him by questioning their father’s request and advocating for Young-sup to fly. Lee’s willingness to listen shows the faith he has in both sons, and Young-sup’s win proves that family honor can be achieved in less orthodox ways.

The process of kite-making and flying unites the family and reveals that the brothers have different but complementary talents. Despite their occasional impatience or frustrations with one another, they must be willing to accept their differences to successfully collaborate. Kee-sup learns that a beautiful kite is nothing without its flier, and Young-sup realizes that “flying walked invisibly beside every step of the making” (16). They support one another through moments of doubt and their confidence in each other is what makes them a winning team. Despite Young-sup’s desire to step out from his brother’s shadow and gain his own recognition, he learns that he cannot do it alone, and it is in strengthening his bond with Kee-sup that he also strengthens his sense of self.

Honor and Tradition

As a work of historical fiction, the novel relies heavily on the values of honor and tradition that were very much part of 15th-century Korean society. Traditions connect people to their culture and their past, and the strict clan structure and familial identity of Korea were preserved through ancestral rituals. Ceremonies like Kee-sup’s capping and the bowing to ancestors are intended to mark and celebrate important transitions in life, while reinforcing the younger generation’s place in their understanding of their whole clan.

While culturally significant, rituals like the capping ceremony are a source of friction and criticism for Young-sup because he questions their purpose rather than tacitly agreeing with their supposed value. He grapples with the seemingly arbitrary changes and the consequential power differential that it creates between himself and Kee-sup: “It’s just a hat, he thought rebelliously [...] Kee-sup is my brother, the same as he has always been. But now, somehow, I’m supposed to treat him differently” (6). The imposed inequality that society at large tacitly agrees to affects women even more: Women were confined to the home, where they were responsible for all the domestic labor, but had no agency of their own. By including this detail, Park emphasizes the negative effects holding onto tradition can have not just on individuals, but entire demographic groups within a society.

The honor and duty of upholding the family name falls to the first-born son, regardless of an individual’s desires or skills. As Park shows through the Lee brothers’ characters, this puts an immense pressure on the eldest son, and can leave the second son feeling insecure. Even though the brothers (and the King) know that Young-sup is the more skilled flier, their father is too attached to this filial tradition to give Young-sup a chance. By the end of the competition, however, Young-sup’s win and the King’s new rituals prove that there is room for innovation and change, even in such a rule-oriented society.

By collaborating, the brothers share the immense responsibility of honoring their family’s name. This eases some of the burden from Kee-sup, while offering Young-sup a rare chance to shine. Together, they honor not only the Lee family name, but secretly honor the King as well as themselves, publicly recognized as a team for their skills and accomplishments. Forced to choose between the loyalty they have to each other and honoring their traditional hierarchy, Young-sup and Kee-sup reflect deeply on their personal understanding of honor, even using the Five Virtues of Confucius to inform this. They ultimately challenge their society’s strict social codes by acting less traditionally, but honorably, in their own way.

Identity

In 15th-century Korea, Park depicts a reality where everyone’s identity is inherently tied to their work and their place in a family. The boys’ father, for example, is known as Rice Merchant Lee, and the expert kite craftsman is known as Kite Maker Chung. The Lee women, the mother and sisters, are not even mentioned by name, reflecting the disregard for women’s individual identities and their labor. Within Korea’s strict clan structure, the boys’ birth order defines them: Kee-sup as the first-born Lee son, and Young-sup as the second. As Kee-sup and Young-sup grow over the course of the year and learn to navigate their family dynamics, they also develop a stronger identity and sense of self.

As discussed in the previous two themes, though both brothers understand the importance of respecting long-standing traditions, they also desire to be recognized for more than just their birth order. Kee-sup dreams of being a craftsman, and Young-sup’s passions are kite-flying and learning, but their father has decided their future for them: Kee-sup will train to be a court scholar, and Young-sup will one day take over his rice business. The kite fights finally offer them both an opportunity to do what they want—rather than what society dictates—and to be witnessed as honoring the Lee name together.

The story’s three young characters—Kee-sup, Young-sup, and the King—all want to challenge their societal constraints to some extent, so that they can express a more authentic identity. The Lee brothers are drastically different from the King, coming from opposite ends of the class spectrum with little common experience. However, as open-minded children, they find commonality and a genuine friendship, which reinforces the idea that they are not so fundamentally different from one another. Crucial to developing their sense of self is building and strengthening their relationships with one another, because as their unconventional friendship grows, so does the possibility of a more inclusive future.