In some ways, reading DICTEE was a carthartic experience for me. I think that many of us can relate to times when one feels like words are not enough to express his/her emotions and thoughts. I usually find myself having trouble conveying my ideas and thoughts effectively through a specific writing style and structure--say, the way college students "ought" to write. I remember reading out loud a short story that I had written in my Creative Writing class. It was written in a way that was similar to what you would usually hear at a spoken word performance. My classmates were confused after hearing my story saying that perhaps the story could be more coherent and clear. I figured that the way I had written it was terrible since no one seemed to understand or appreciate it. Therefore, although it may seem that its content and the way DICTEE is written seem too confusing to be meaningful at all, it is innovative and powerful in conveying many emotions of Kreans and Korean Americans during their tragic history.

Through silence and censorship, Koreans in the past and Korean history are being forgotten. Japanese colonialism, division, Koreans being enemies with their own brothers and sisters, and all the painful memories are not being voiced, but rather, they are "justified as a void, as invisibility, lack, and absence in the dominant culture" (5, Kim). In order to express the frustration and difficulty of recalling painful memories and trying to be heard, Cha writes,

"Resurrect it all over again.
Bit by bit. Reconstructing step by step
step
within limits
enclosed absolutely shut
tight, black, without leaks.
Within those limits,
resurrect, as much as
possible, possibly could hold
possibly ever hold
a segment of it
....
salivate the words
give light. Fuel. Enflame"
(129, Cha)

This part creates a sense of progress, bit by bit, and people's effort to be remembered. This concept is also expressed in the poem on pages 67 and 73 with phrases like "little by little," and "memory not all heard, not certain." However, one cannot simply blame the censorship or forbidden use of Korean language to grasp what Cha is trying to say. No matter how incoherent and confusing it may be, the way it was written is important and powerful in that it created a sense of confusion, desperation, and fear that Koreans experienced.

Like how Kim said that "to discuss DICTEE without ever referring to Cha as a Korean American woman is to depoliticize the text and thereby obliterate or at least drastically reduce its oppositional potential and its empowering possibilities" (22, Kim), I think it is important for the readers to take interest in Korean history and its tragedies in order to thoroughly understand the text. Because then, one can start to get a sense of where Cha is coming from.