Almond by Won-pyung and Morality Without Emotions - Stevie Hardwich

     Almond is a book about a boy, Yunjae, who is born with a condition that makes it hard for him to feel emotions. Despite this, he is still able to be a good student and friend. On Christmas Eve, his grandmother is brutally murdered in public,, in front of him, and his mother is seriously injured and in a coma.. Despite this, he doesn't react much. He meets a fellow student named Gon, who is reckless and tries to do what he can to get Yunjae to feel something. He begins as a bully to Yunjae, but slowly grows interested in him. Yunjae is unaffected by the bullying, which only makes Gon more interested. Once Yunjae explains his condition, Gon is determined to make him feel something. In one scene, Gon rips off the wings of a butterfly in an attempt to get Yunjae to feel bad for it. Yunjae remains unaffected, but does try to stop Gon from hurting the butterfly. Gon is the one that ends up crying. They have a falling out, and Gon decides to join a dangerous gang. Yunjae ends up saving him, and impressing the gang leader for his lack of emotions. By the end of the fight, Yunjae experiences his first emotion. Soon after this, his mom wakes up from her coma. 

    This book does an impressive demonstration of a good but aloof protagonist. Yunjae is not a bad person, if anything Gon is the one who actively harms people. Yunjae understands morality even if he doesn't feel guilt. He is an example of morality being a series of actions rather than emotion, something you do rather than feel.

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