The Joseon Dynasty is the predecessor of modern-day Korea. The Joseon Dynasty lasted about 500 years, from its founding in 1392 by King Yi Seong-gye to the establishment of the short-lived Empire of Korea in 1897. Joseon replaced the earlier Korean kingdom of Goryeo (from which Korea derives its name). Joseon had a rigid hereditary class structure. At the top were the yangban nobles, then the jungin middle class, the sangmin commoners, and the cheonmin outcasts (“vulgar commoners”). There were also untouchables (often, those who worked stigmatized professions associated with death) and slaves. Noble families, like the Hongs in the novel, owned slaves who worked as servants in the household and on the family’s property. As a household servant, Gildong’s mother is a member of the cheonmin class and a slave, which is why Gildong does not inherit his father’s yangban status and remains a secondary son.

Men from noble families had two career paths: government and military. Each promised prestige and wealth and required the candidate to pass a state-administered exam. Although these exams were technically open to nobles and commoners, “only the yangban had the economic wherewithal to provide their sons with the resources […] to devote years of their lives to study for the highly rigorous exams” (xv).