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Chapter 23
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Escape from Camp 14, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tyranny and the North Korean State
Survival, Self-interest, and Morality
Indoctrination and Brainwashing
Guilt
Activism and Indifference
Summary
Analysis
In February 2011, Shin flies to Washington State and moves in with Harim and her family. Harden, who lives in Washington, is surprised by this sudden move—he fears that Shin in burning bridges with LiNK for no reason. He invites Shin over for tea.
Harden seems to have suspected that Shin wasn't investing enough time in forging stable, long-term relationships with other people (i.e., his colleagues at LiNK)—perhaps because, in prison camp, he’d had essentially no stable, long-term relationships.
Active
Themes
Harden has conducted many interviews with Shin in preparation for their book. But Harden is still curious about Shin’s life—in particular, he wants to know what Shin wants out of life. He asks to meet Harim’s parents, but Harim and Shin make various excuses. Harden realizes that, more than anything else, Shin just wants Harden’s “long interrogation” to end.
In writing his book on Shin, Harden has confronted a series of ethical quandaries—not the least of which is the matter of whether or not he should even write it in the first place. By pressuring Shin to talk about his past, Harden could be said to be sacrificing Shin’s happiness for a greater good, forcing him to relive the darkest times of his life. Furthermore, by encouraging Shin to say so much in such a short time, he may have pressured Shin to continue lying about his past, discrediting the entire account and the activist movement associated with it in the process.
Active
Themes
Harim and Shin form an NGO called North Korea Freedom Plexus. They raise money with the goal of building asylum shelters for North Korean defectors. On behalf of his NGO, Shin travels back to China. When Harden asks Shin if he’s worried about being assassinated by North Korean soldiers, Shin claims that he is “always careful.” He’s become close with Lowell Dye and Linda Dye, the couple who paid for Shin’s air travel to the U.S. The Dyes tell Harden that Shin sincerely loves Harim; however, Shin and Harim’s relationship ends six months after they move in together.
Active
Themes
Shin invites Harden to watch him give a speech at a Korean church in Seattle. There, Shin speaks about having been an informer at Camp 14, betraying his family, and even crawling over Park’s dead body. Harden is struck by how emotionally Shin speaks—instead of allowing his self-hatred to silence him, he uses his feelings to speak out against the North Korean state. When Shin’s speech ends, the entire church explodes in applause. “In that speech, if not yet in his life,” Harden notes, “Shin had seized control of his past.”
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