In Chapter 2 of Breaking Night, Lisa tricks Liz into thinking that braiding Liz’s hair will solve the lice problem that Liz has. Lisa ends up making her younger sister look horrifying, in that Liz’s hair becomes very messy and her head is covered in fake rose petals. After realizing that her sister had pulled a prank on her, she locked herself in her own room until her parents come home. This reminds me of the song “Stop Stop It” by Korean boy band GOT7.
Link to song with English translated lyrics below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIu6PpKY8ec&ab_channel=EmmaNeo
Even though the song is about a intimate relationship between a man and a woman, the word, 하지마 (ha-ji-ma), means “do not” or “stop”, and I thought this song would be relatable to what happens in the beginning of Chapter 2. The lyrics at some point say “This sheer torture, far beyond tolerance level”, and this reminds me of how Lisa is making a fool out of her sister by pretending to know how to get rid of lice. In my perspective, even though Liz is portrayed as a very naive 5-6 year old, I think to myself that in her head, she secretly does not want her sister to bully her. However, Liz is known for being desperate for attention, love, and appraisal from her parents, and that desire has probably started to affect how Liz behaves when she is with Lisa. As a child, Liz’s behavioral patterns and personality are very ambiguous so it’s hard to figure out anything when she is involved.
When Liz found out that her mom stole the five dollar bill that was a gift from her paternal grandmother and used it to buy drugs, she became furious and scolded her mom. However, much to Liz’s surprise, her mom gave in and decided to not use the drugs that she had just bought. This reminded me of a lyric in another GOT7 song called “If You Do” which says “Well I love you anyway, that’s why I put up with you”. This makes me think that Liz always forgives her mom for everything because of love, even if her mom is a despicable person.
Link to song with English translated lyrics below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj7QQmnw9KY&ab_channel=yankat
When Lisa starts to acts more aggressively towards her younger sister, such as when she wakes Liz up for school, it makes me think of one of the first Korean songs I’ve ever heard before becoming more interested in Korean culture and music. The song is called “Stupid Love” by Mad Clown featuring Soyou of SiSTAR. It’s another song about a man and a woman in an intimate relationship, but the lyrics are really well thought out, and I thought it’d be a good song to describe the relationship between Liz and Lisa in this part of the chapter. In the second verse, the lyrics “You keep saying those cruel words, scarring me as if you’ll never want to see me again” reminded me of how verbally abusive Lisa was towards Liz when trying to wake her up for school. It’s surprising to see how Lisa treats her sister so badly, making their situation even more traumatic and even worse than it already is.
Link to song with English translated lyrics below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s-xd9O5ZQg&ab_channel=LoveKpopSubs13
SFSU English 214 - Second Year Compostion 
ah yes got7 is so good thank for this! i like if you do a lot lol
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You bring up this very interesting point of how Lisa’s older sister antics correspond with Liz’s ambiguous personality. I believe Liz is as insecurely attached as one can be. I remember coming across this term in my general psychology course last year, and from what I remember, being insecurely attached results from an up and down relationship with your mother during your childhood. We clearly see that within Liz because countless times she had been provided love and affection from her mom and other times she was betrayed leaving her to think if her mom’s love is true.
Additionally, you bring up the scene in the chapter in which Liz gets mad at Ma for indulging in another drug-related activity for the very first time I believe. Aside from everything else, this stood out to me because not only did it show the struggle that Ma is going through, but also it provides another depiction of Liz’s insecure attachment. We see right after, Liz drastically flips her mood and ends up sympathizing with her Ma.
What I really appreciated about your post was your emphasis on the importance of Lisa and the role she has played so far in the book. I think its one of the aspects that has been overshadowed by the more obvious conflicts that have occurred. And I do agree with you on the fact that Lisa is doing nothing but adding more fire to the flame. But another part of me thinks that as painful Lisa can be, she is doing the best she can to wake Liz up and realize that something needs to change with her as well as the family as a whole. A topic worthy of investigation!
Your post in general was very fun considering all the Korean songs that you related the reading to! Additionally, it brought me to think more deeply about what is going on in the book!
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I like how you related it to K-Pop, honestly that was really creative. You bring up a good point about the humiliation that Lisa causes Lizzy. I feel that their relationship is a bit controlling and unstable and it is a pity that Liz admired and looked up to Lisa as much as she did.
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