Punctuated Post: Sun Mi-Hwang's The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

This weekend something rare happened--we're talking mythical unicorn rare. I woke up on Saturday without anything to do for the first weekend I can remember in recent history, and I stayed in bed and read a book. When I say read a book, I mean the good ole fashioned way: straight through, in one sitting, cover to cover (or whatever that is in e-reader speak). True, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly isn't especially long or especially challenging, but it is a dear gem. I think I read it at the perfect time: deep in the year, right around the time everything is overwhelming, and the days are the shortest, and the weather is unforgiving, and it is hard to get motivated to do anything. What better story than one that features a plucky hen who faces the impossible and surpasses all of her obstacles with determination and love? When the winter is getting you down, nothing will shame you out of your pity party like a hen who has to fight for survival against unsympathetic farmers, pretentious farm animals, an aging guard dog trying to maintain his ego, and a dangerous predator, all while protecting her beloved baby. But I suppose that is the point of the story--that anything can be overcome, and we all have to hold onto our dreams and embrace our individuality, whether it is a hen who dreams she can fly or a person trying to navigate this crazy world in which we live. I loved this story for all the ways it reminded me of other well-loved fables, and I think the message will stand the test of time and remind us to stay true to ourselves as we navigate the obstacles around us, where the allegorical forces of the story are pervasively treacherous forces like close-mindedness, political agendas that stifle individual rights, prejudice, the prison industrial complex, systemic violence, and a thousand other issues and hardships big and small.

Hwang, Sun-Mi. The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly. Trans. by Chi-Young Kim. Illust. by
     Namoco. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.