Yoongi's Pandora's Box

Yoongi’s character has been very much centered in his love for music. He tends to isolate himself and somehow tries to withhold himself from dreaming. When Jungkook asked them what their dream were, Yoongi’s response was that he has no dream and at another point advised Jungkook that it was better not to have a dream because it is something difficult to achieve.

When they were travelling to the wishing rock, Hoseok reads out the dictionary definition of a dream and Yoongi agrees with the definition they saw, which was that it was something not realistic or achievable.

Yoongi’s dream has been centered around music. We’ve had small glimpses of this from the other boys’ point of view as they recall Yoongi playing the piano when they were in school. The thing is, to Yoongi, dreaming about becoming a musician is laced with guilt, in heavy connection with his mother’s passing. In The Notes 1, Yoongi recalls his mother telling him in a few words that she regrets having him. It seems that Yoongi’s mother was also a talented musician and somehow her dreams of pursuing her passion has been hindered by Yoongi’s birth and she made sure to let her own son know.

Yoongi is also guilty of possibly having a hand in his mother’s death. He recalls being asked during the fire that took his mother’s life, if  there were any other people inside. He answered “No.” It is then presumed that it was from this fire that his mother has died. However, nothing more was said about recovering her (dead or alive) from the burning house. Possibly, Yoongi just blocked it from his memories, as people are prone to do in traumatic situations. I feel like pointing this out because I am also open to the possibility that his mother was never found and might have actually ran away. I’ll get into more detail on why I think this can be considered.

Yoongi, due to these experiences, has taken a pessimistic view in life. What is the point of making friends or connections if everything is going to end anyway? What is the use of having a dream if you’re never gonna make it? What is the use of going to school, if you have no future? All these things composes Yoongi’s mindset. His hesitation to form bonds played a huge part on how he disconnected from the  group. Save for one, Jungkook.

Somehow, Jungkook and Yoongi were able to connect in some way. Seokjin thinks it’s because Jungkook and Yoongi share the same pain. The same self destructive agony of having nothing to live for.

In a sense, Jungkook and Yoongi save each other. Jungkook, to me, is the epitome of a blank slate. Blank in that he himself doesn’t know what to do with himself. Yoongi sees in Jungkook a bit of himself and somehow, Jungkook gives him a purpose. In Jungkook, he has someone he can protect and take care of. It was after all because of his coming to defend Jungkook that he was eventually kicked out of the school. Sadly, Yoongi’s fears regarding a lot of things also applied to Jungkook.

This is reflected in how he was quick to blame Jungkook’s accident on himself. He believes that anybody who becomes close to him will eventually get hurt and Jungkook was testament to that. Although I don’t know WHY he would blame himself from that. Maybe it was because he didn’t walk with Jungkook home from that night or at least bothered to look for him. Anyway, this is mainly rooted from how he thinks he caused his mother’s death (and misery).

See, for a person like Yoongi, he can only express his true self through his music. And since that is something of a dream that he has decided he has no future in, he is very much conflicted on how he could express himself.

Eventually, Yoongi ends up getting drunk and is found by Hoseok. Hoseok, who was going through a lot on his own, decided not to help Yoongi and left him with a few choice words.

And then, whether by hallucination, sheer drunkenness or an actual metaphysical experience. Yoongi hears music and follows it to the mountains and deep in the forest. It’s the same tune he hears Jungkook whistle when he found him in the Music shop (while also drunk). But this time, the music is complete. Yoongi has apparently been working on this tune since he was in high school. An incomplete song he used to play in the storage room. One that Jungkook remembers well. Something Yoongi is unable to finish.

He ends up passing out and eventually wakes up and decides to walk towards where the sun rises. He eventually finishes composing the song and sends it to Hoseok upon the dancer’s return. Yoongi names the song “Hope”.

Yoongi’s Anima

Yoongi’s anima is a female composer who works with him on his music. She is able to give him feedback on his compositions and is able to make music more efficiently in Yoongi’s opinion. She’s the one who replaced his cigarettes with a lollipop.

His anima is most likely a person he aspires to become like. His mother was a pianist and this woman is a composer like himself. She is able to pursue her dream and gets to practice it enough to become good at it. More than anything, a lot of Yoongi’s struggles seem to stem from his inability to express himself through music and his hesitations to pursue his dream. First, due to conformity with his father’s strict upbringing and later, as a response to his emotional stunting due to multiple losses. I think it stems from Yoongi’s fear of losing it as well as soon as he creates a stronger affinity for it.

The Pandora's Box

There is a lot of references to Hope in Yoongi’s storyline. As Yoongi strongly believes himself destructive, he is closely associated with fire. Often toting a lighter around but these were soon replaced by references to hope. The Art of Loving quote as read by Seokjin, the injured bird in his workroom, his smoking.

His magic shop trade item was his lighter. Something he used to set himself on fire in another timeline. He’s also a known smoker among the boys, which could also mean that even without the fire, Yoongi is slowly killing himself. These self destructive thoughts, despair and isolation contributed a lot to Yoongi’s misery. However, Yoongi also made some very conscious decisions to save himself. In one timeline, Yoongi doesn’t proceed to set fire to his workroom because he found an injured bird and decided to care for it a bit. If there could be any mythological stories that could fit Yoongi’s it would be the story of “Pandora’s Box”.

How the box contained all the pain and the misery of the world but also contained Hope. In Yoongi’s final arc in the Notes 1, he does not find complete happiness. The song he composed wasn’t completely joyful. It contained his feelings of sadness and despair but intermingled with happiness and joy, thus the title “Hope”. Yoongi’s story arc is mostly focused on being able to accept the bad things with the good things, of him finding that balance between despair and hope.

Supernatural Yoongi

Near the end of The Notes 1, Yoongi finds himself near the mountains, one path going to the dark forest and another one going back. He chooses to go to the forest and from there starts hearing a song

We can attribute it to drunkenness or possibly Seokjin’s intervention. But there are a lot of weird things going on in Yoongi’s storyline. Particularly, in connection with his song.

The first incident being when he was walking near the construction site and suddenly hears someone whistling. He follows the sound and is eventually led to Jungkook. Seems normal enough, however,if you think about it, how acute was Yoongi’s hearing that he would be able to hear that amidst everything else? How loud was Jungkook’s whistling. It seems normal enough, but it’s still something I took note of.

Another incident is from when he found himself in the forest. Now, this time it wasn’t just someone whistling, it was a full blown song (okay, a piano) that he was hearing. Somehow,time passes while Yoongi was in there and it was morning when he woke up. Perhaps, it was a dream? Anyway, this scene in the book reminded me of their Wings Tour Trailer.

This is from the Wings Tour Trailer. A possible interpretation of having a butterfly in your mouth is that your painful past will open opportunities for you.

Yoongi's Future

What this could possibly mean for Yoongi's future is that he is able to harness his emotions and express these through music. He has never spoken of an intention to profit from it. However, the bright future in this analogy could possibly point to a less emotionally turbulent time for Yoongi and finally a chance to make the connections with his loved ones.