The Wind - the essey about A Single Shard (the book)

The book A Single Shard, written by Linda Sue Park, which we were talking about during ESOL class, tells us a story about some Korean boy. His name is Tree-ear, just like the name of mushrooms, which live on the trees. That is a good name for him because he is an orphan, and just like tree-ears live and grow without roots, he lives and grows without family. He lives with his guardian, Crane-man in the village of Ch’ulp’o. They have no real home. They live under bridge and eat what they find. Every day looked the same until Tree-ear started to work for Min. Min is the one of the best potters in Ch’ulp’o. He works slowly but his pots are so beautiful, that Tree-ear falls in love with ceramics. It becomes boy’s dream to make pottery and it changes all his life.
The book is a historical fiction. This term means that all background of the story is true while all events and characters are fake. It means that Korea few hundreds years ago looked just like in this book, they were emissaries walking around the country and looking for potters who can get commission. They were villages just like Ch’ulp’o and our orphans just like Tree-ear. But there was no boy, who name was Tree-ear, and who was working for the potter, Min. No Crane-man and no Ajima.
This book teaches us a lot not only about Korea hundred years ago, but about modern times, too. Especially Crane-man’s words give us good lessons for our lives. He said:

“ My friend, the same wind that blows one door shut, often blows another open.”

We can understand those words in few different ways. For example events, which bring some bad things, can bring some good, too. Other meaning is: when something ends, some new thing begins.
A lot of examples from A Single Shard confirm those words. One of them is the beginning of the story, when Tree-ear becomes an orphan. That was one of the most tragic events in his life. But if it would not happen, he would not meet Crane-man and would not learn to make pottery. He lost his family but he found other people who love him and he discovered his passion. The same wind, the death of his parents, opened a new door.
Other event from Tree-ear’s life, which we can compare with Crane-man’s words, is his first meeting with Min. Min catches him when Tree-ear is holding one of potter’s ceramics. Scared Tree-ear drops it and brakes it. Min gets really mad. He starts to scream at the boy, that he tried to steal the pot and he already destroyed it. Tree-ear does not know what to do. He tries to explain that he is only looking, not stealing. He quotes very important words, which Crane-man had said: “I would not steal. Stealing and begging make a man no better than a dog.” Finally he proposed to Min that he will work for him to return all injuries. Min agrees. That is how he started to work for his master. At the beginning it seemed hopeless, but results were good.
Tree-ear decides to still work for Min without any salary only because of that he wants to learn to make pottery. When his master refuses to teach him to make the ceramics on the wheel, he feels really upset, but it motivates him to learn to make the pottery by his hands. Min says then “The potter’s trade goes from father to son. I had a son once. My son. Hyung-gu. He is gone now. It is him I would have taught. You – You are not my son.” That is how he makes the gift for his friend, Crane-man – a little monkey.
Next event of this story, which turns from bad beginning to good end, is when Robbers break Min’s pot. Tree-ear wants to kill himself. But he starts to think about Crane-man’s words: “Leaping into death is not the only way to show true courage,” and he changes his mind. He decides to look for the shards of the pot, and when he founds a single, big shard he is going to finish his mission. Finally, when he shows the shard to the emissary, Min gets commission and everything ends happily.
The last example of the event that illustrates the meaning of the quote is a really good one. When Tree-ear comes back with good news, Min tells him about Crane-man’s death. He is in shock. He does not know what to do and he is really sad. But he finds his happiness when Min and Ajima propose to him to live with them. He can start new life with a family.
I know very good Polish byword, which I can compare to the quote of Crane-man’s words: “There is nothing bad, that cannot become something good.” In my opinion both sentences are very similar. I know from my own life that there are a lot of situations when events are better than they seem to be.