Understanding Gihun's Character from Squid Game

Squid Game, a popular Netflix series that took over the covid-19 era. Almost all of us by now must have watched squid game or at least have a general idea of what it is about.

Seong Gihun is the protagonist of the show Squid Game directed and written by Hwang Dong-Hyuk. In the First season of Squid Game Gihun is introduced as a broke man who is under huge debts due to his gambling addiction. He is a divorced father who has lost the custody of his daughter and worst of all he even steals money from his mother's account in order to gamble by betting on horses. Despite his flaws and financial struggles, Gihun is genuinely a kind man in heart, even when he was playing the games he was concerned about his fellow teammates and wanted to get out of the hell hole with them together. Even after all of the struggles that he faced during the games it was obvious that he genuinely cared for the people around him.

During the Tug of War scene when Gihun and his teammates win against the opposing team, the opposing team fall to their death when you watch this scene carefully Gihun is shown for a glimpse and it is evident from his face that he feels guilty about their deaths, when everyone else is playing in order to win the Prize money, Gihun is perhaps the only one who feels remorse for his actions and what he has done.  He does face moral dilemmas throughout the games, but it is only human of him to undergo such dilemmas. 

He has to navigate the thin line between self-preservation and maintaining his humanity. His interactions with other players, especially his childhood friend Cho Sang-Woo, and the elderly player Oh Il-Nam, reveal his capacity for empathy and compassion even in dire circumstances. Therefore, in the last game he forfeits to accept the prize money and says that he wants to quit, Sang-Woo however a very polarizing character when compared to Gihun ends up killing himself because he doesn't want to go back to the life that he has lived, thus making Gihun the winner of Squid Game in the first season.

Now of course the story doesn't end here, Gihun returns back to play the games in season 2 despite the trauma he has gone through in order to save the lives of others implying that Gihun's character is a testament to human resilience. His character symbolizes hope and humanity, even during dire situations.