Quick lessons from characters in Squid game

Posted On November 2, 2021

Spoiler Alert!! Don’t read this if you are yet to watch it. But if you are someone like me who is affected by such series, Don’t watch it because it affected me and felt low at the end of it. You will also feel bad about the some characters dying during the game. So “Squid game” is a series from Netflix that went viral due to the nature of the Genre it is in and famous for it’s violent endings at the end of the games being conducted.

Abdul Ali:

Don’t trust anyone blindly. The reason why I want to write about this character first is because of this. Most of the times, we learn this the hard way by believing and trusting wrong people and getting hurt only to realize that we should not do this next time and eventually repeating it. In the series, Ali believes Cho Sang-woo(the friend who betrays) to be his friend but the latter deceives him in the game of life and death.

Oh Il Nam:

Experience Matters. The old man(until we realize he is) is the wisest person in the group. He knows that friendship and relationships are better than money itself. Money can give you power, resources and materialistic benefits. But in the end, if you want to enjoy life you need companionship, friends and people that care genuinely. He is also the most experienced player who knows how to keep the group intact(which we see in game tug-of-war). He also knows when to sacrifice for a friend that has genuine shot at winning and forgives him for his cheating.

He also proves to be very resourceful when the team needed to win over a very strong opponent team in a game of tug-of-war.

Cho Sang-woo:

Good character always wins over great looks or even education. He is a highly educated guy and looks good but he is in dire need of money due to his mis-calculations in investing for his clients. He not only mis-calculated but he is not good friend. He hides the information he knows from his childhood friend Gi-Hun in the first game of Honey comb and Ali in marbles game. He was not supportive of taking women in his team too, though he was educated and experienced enough to know the strength depends on smartness of the team and not just the physical energy (which was also proved by the Oh II Nam in tug of war)

Seong Gi Hun:

The key character of the series that teaches a lot of lessons:

1. Gambling is bad: He tries to gamble whatever the little money that his mother saves on gambling(horse rides) which was stolen later by a girl(Kang Sae-byeok, who is introduced below). He also faces issues with his creditors as a result of this. So don’t go for any “get rich-quick” techniques when you are trying to earn money. Go for investing and earning through long term appreciating assets.
2. Good Leader: Though he is a bad investor or careless about saving money, he does not leave his friends in time-of-need irrespective of whether they are useful to him or not. He also helps in forming a group that saves his friends when things go out of control and contestants start killing each other. He also knows how to keep the group together and takes right decisions at the right time.
3. Fierce friend: He doesn’t want to win the money at the cost of his friend loosing his life. Not just that, he is very forgiving of what they do during the game even if they try to deceive him or kill him to save themselves. He also genuinely accepts that he tried to cheat in Marbles game with him friend Oh II Nam to live. In fact, after winning he gives money to the friend’s families who lost their lives in the game.

Kang Sae-byeok:

This character has so many shades. But the main lesson we learn is:

Family matters the most: She mostly represents all of us. She steals, fights, sacrifices and dies at the end trying to get his brother out of the orphan house and her mother to South Korea. She is one of the finalists in the game, knows whose team to be in, supports the team and cares for the team members and doesn’t leave her friends in time-of-need. she steals only to get food to her brother and to get her family back from North Korea. She dies at the end due to an injury from glass shattering and eventually getting stabbed by Cho Sang-woo.