''The Crucible'' () is a 2009 novel by

Gong Ji-Young Gong Jiyeong (; born January 31, 1963) is a South Korean novelist. Life Gong Jiyeong was interested in literature from an early age, and while still a teenager, self-published her own stories and poems.Korean Writers and Novelists. Minumsa Pub ...

() based on an actual case of mass sexual abuse at the

Gwangju Inhwa School Gwangju Inhwa School () was a school for deaf students founded in 1961 and located in Gwangju, South Korea. The school made national headlines after its decades-long record of sexually abusing students was uncovered in 2005. Following a series o ...

school for the deaf in South Korea. The title was taken from

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's play of the same name.

Plot

Kang In-ho is a teacher from Seoul that teaches deaf children how to do art. He settles in Mujin (a fictional city) where he finds employment as a teacher at a school for the hearing impaired. On the first day of his new job, a young boy is struck and killed by a train, the latest of a series of accidents, he soon discovers. He hears of a young girl who had recently committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. Kang soon suspects things are not as they seem and discovers that the students, (both boys and girls) are being abused by the principal (a powerful and highly respected member of the community), an administrative head and a dormitory superintendent. Kang's efforts to bring the crimes to the attention of the public are met with resistance by corrupt police, doctors and other business leaders. When the case comes to trial, the defense lawyers further attempt to discredit Kang by bringing to light his past misdeeds, including the affair with his former student who committed suicide. Compounding all, the financially strapped parents of the abused students agree to remain silent about the incidents in exchange for money. In the end, the three accused are sentenced to probation and set free to return to the school. Kang, humiliated at having his personal failures publicized and frustrated by the lack of justice, decides to leave Mujin and return to his family in Seoul.

Film adaptation

A film adaptation also titled ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'' (), was released in 2011 starring

Gong Yoo Gong Ji-cheol (; born July 10, 1979), known professionally as Gong Yoo (), is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his starring roles in the television series ''Coffee Prince'' (2007), '' Guardian: The Lonely and Great God'' (2016–2017 ...

as Kang In-ho and Jung Yu-mi as Seo Yoo-jin.

Plot

Film adaptation

References

See also