Previous
Chapter 5
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in In Order to Live, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Propaganda, Indoctrination, and Truth
Family and Community
Survival, Desperation, and Adaptation
Identity and Freedom
Gender and Violence
Summary
Analysis
By 2000, Yeonmi’s parents were earning far more than most families around them, and their home life briefly improved. Jin Sik even bought Yeonmi a 1980s Nintendo set, and she became obsessed with playing Super Mario Brothers whenever the power was on. Still, her parents’ marriage was volatile. They loved and respected each other, but arguments sometimes turned physical. In North Korea, men are taught to view themselves as superior, and domestic violence is common. Jin Sik rarely hit Keum Sook, but when he did, she fought back fiercely. Yeonmi occasionally had to run for neighbors to break up their fights. But despite frequent threats of divorce, they always reconciled.
The temporary improvement in the Park family’s living conditions, positive as it is, speaks to the instability of black-market work. Yeonmi learns from a young age that pleasure itself is conditional and temporary. Access to the Nintendo set, for example, depends entirely on whether the power grid is functioning. The volatility in her parents’ marriage, meanwhile, reflects a culture in which men are taught to assert authority and women are expected to endure it. But unlike other women, Keum Sook fights back, further characterizing the Park family as out of step with the norms that govern most North Korean households.
Active
Themes
While Jin Sik spent most of the year working in Pyongyang, he stayed in a spare room at his assistant Wan Sun’s house. Wan Sun was young and attractive, and a relationship developed between them—one that Jin Sik always denied. In 2001, while Keum Sook temporarily took over business in Pyongyang and stayed with Wan Sun, Wan Sun called Jin Sik to claim that Keum Sook was cheating on him, in an attempt to push him toward divorce. When Jin Sik confronted his wife, Keum Sook threatened to leave for good and nearly did. In the end, they reunited once more, and Jin Sik maintained nothing had happened with Wan Sun.
Keum Sook’s near-departure characterizes her as a strong woman who refuses to be disrespected—or misunderstood—by her husband. Buying into accusations of infidelity is easy when a relationship has already been strained by distance, but Jin Sik and Keum Sook’s continual reconciliation proves that their marriage is stronger than the obstacles it faces. At the very least, both are aware that divorce carries economic and social consequences that neither spouse can fully afford.
Active
Themes
In 2002, Yeonmi spent a month in Pyongyang with her father, the first time she had ever visited the “fancy” city she’d dreamed of for years. She and Jin Sik often went sightseeing with Wan Sun, whom Yeonmi found warm and generous. To her, Pyongyang felt like a “fairyland”: spotless streets, bright lights, and people who seemed softer than those in Hyesan. Near the end of her stay, Yeonmi overheard Wan Sun begging Jin Sik to divorce Keum Sook and leave Eunmi with her while she raised Yeonmi. Jin Sik angrily shut her down, and later made Yeonmi promise not to tell her mother about anything she had seen or heard.
Active
Themes
Before they left Pyongyang, Jin Sik developed severe stomach pain, but doctors couldn’t diagnose it. On the train back to Hyesan, a group of homeless street children clung to the undercarriage in hopes of finding food. Some were Yeonmi’s age, and she watched them with curiosity rather than sympathy, wondering how they survived on so little. Before reaching Hyesan, one child touched a live wire and was killed, forcing the train to stop. The passengers barely reacted; for them, it was only a minor inconvenience. Once home, Jin Sik learned that a smuggler had informed on Wan Sun, and she had gone into hiding. Keum Sook warned him to stay away from her—but, Yeonmi notes, “he did not listen.”
Active
Themes
Get the entire In Order to Live LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
