From Naming to Being Named: Mirroring and Reciprocal Recognition in Kim Chun-Soo’s the Flower
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Abstract
psychology and Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition. The poem explores the relationship between naming, identity, and the desire for recognition. The study analyses how the act of naming transforms another individual into a meaningful presence and how the speaker subsequently expresses a desire to receive similar recognition. Kohut’s concept of mirroring explains the psychological need for affirmation through the responses of others, while Honneth’s theory of recognition helps examine the relationship between acknowledgement and identity formation. Through qualitative textual analysis and close reading, the paper investigates the speaker’s movement from recognising another individual to longing for reciprocal recognition. It also explores the significance of the desire to possess a name that reflects individual identity and to remain present in another’s consciousness. The study argues that the poem presents longing as more than a desire for emotional connection; it represents the need for one’s existence and identity to be acknowledged by another. By bringing self psychology and recognition theory together, the paper highlights how reciprocal acknowledgement contributes to the formation of relational selfhood. Thus, “The Flower” presents recognition as a shared experience in which the desire to acknowledge another is accompanied by the longing to be acknowledged in return
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