Character Analysis

 

     The antagonist in the short story called "Korean Cinderella" is Omoni, Pear Blossom's step-mother.  The first reason why she's the antagonist is because she teased Pear Blossom about going to the festival by saying, "Pear Blossom may go after she weeds the rice paddies."  This is a tease because the rice paddies are so large that it would have been impossible to weed it, so this shows how Omoni is mean to Pear Blossom.  Another evidence from the text that shows that Omoni is an antagonist is that the text says, "When Omoni and Peony saw how beautiful Pear Blossom was, they were jealous of her.  Omoni made her work day and night and constantly found fault with her."  This quote proves that Omoni is an antagonist because jealousy and treating a person badly are characteristics of an antagonist.  The final reason that shows how Omoni is an antagonist is seen when Pear Blossom arrived at the festival, and Omoni called her a liar and scared Pear Blossom by saying that the girl will be arrested.  This act is an act of an antagonist because Omoni had no reason to scare Pear Blossom since the girl did not do anything wrong. There are several incidents in the text that proves how mean Omoni was to Pear Blossom making Omoni the antagonist in the story.