Nothing to Envy

by

Barbara Demick

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Nothing to Envy makes teaching easy.

Kim Il-sung Character Analysis

Kim Il-sung was the founder and first Great Leader of North Korea, which he ruled from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. A charismatic totalitarian ruler, Kim Il-sung projected an image of fatherly benevolence. But he did so while assuming total control over his citizens, using a thriving propaganda machine to perpetuate his ideologies of juche, or total self-reliance, and to create a complete saturation of pro-regime media. Even as Kim Il-sung painted himself in a positive light and had his propaganda czars spread rumors of his supernatural, godlike powers, he nevertheless profited off his people’s suffering, hypocritically teaching that Communism was the only way forward while he himself enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle in the showcase capital of Pyongyang. Kim Il-sung’s failure to pay his debts to neighboring allies, such as the Soviet Union and China, led to an economic collapse and widespread famine that decimated the country of North Korea and resulted in the deaths of millions of citizens. When Kim Il-sung died in 1994, the famine was still in its early days, and he had denied entirely that any food shortage was present in the country even as people began dying in the streets. His people mourned him publicly for a period of 10 days, during which heart attacks and bouts of heatstroke ravaged the mourners. The total cult of personality Kim Il-sung erected around himself mirrored the efforts of leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong to ensure the complete loyalty of the people he ruled, even as his policies decimated their social, financial, and bodily well-being. Kim Il-sung’s notoriety persists to this day, and his descendants Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un have tried throughout their respective leaderships to get their people to adore them as they did Kim Il-sung—but the founder of the Kim dynasty’s stronghold over his people, Demick suggests, was an historical aberration likely never to be repeated to such a degree.

Kim Il-sung Quotes in Nothing to Envy

The Nothing to Envy quotes below are all either spoken by Kim Il-sung or refer to Kim Il-sung. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Propaganda, Misinformation, Deception, and Control Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

The red letters leap out of the gray landscape with urgency. They march across the fields, preside over the granite cliffs of the mountains, punctuate the main roads like mileage markers, and dance on top of railroad stations and other public buildings.

LONG LIVE KIM IL-SUNG.

KIM JONG-IL, SUN OF THE 21ST CENTURY.

LET’S LIVE OUR OWN WAY.

WE WILL DO AS THE PARTY TELLS US.

WE HAVE NOTHING TO ENVY IN THE WORLD.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

North Korea invites parody. We laugh at the excesses of the propaganda and the gullibility of the people. But consider that their indoctrination began in infancy, during the fourteen-hour days spent in factory day-care centers; that for the subsequent fifty years' every song, film, newspaper article, and billboard was designed to deify Kim Il-sung; that the country was hermetically sealed to keep out anything that might cast doubt on Kim Il-sung's divinity Who could possibly resist?

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung
Related Symbols: Television
Page Number: 45-46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

The propaganda machine launched a new campaign, playing up Korean pride by recalling a largely apocryphal fable from 1938-39 in which Kim Il-sung commanded a small band of anti-Japanese guerrillas "fighting against thousands of enemies in 20 degrees below zero, braving through a heavy snowfall and starvation." […] The Arduous March, as they called it, would later become a metaphor for the famine. […] Enduring hunger became part of one's patriotic duty. Billboards went up in Pyongyang touting the new slogan, "Let's Ear Two Meals a Day." North Korean television ran a documentary about a man whose stomach burst, it was claimed, from eating too much rice.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung
Related Symbols: Television
Page Number: 69-70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Now, surrounded by sobbing students, Jun-sang wondered: If everybody else felt such genuine love for Kim Il-sung and he did nor, how would he possibly fit in? […] He was alone, completely alone in his indifference. He always thought he had close friends at the university, but now he realized he didn't know them at all. […]

This revelation was quickly followed by another, equally momentous: his entire future depended on his ability to cry. Not just his career and his membership in the Workers' Party, his very survival was at stake. It was a matter of life and death. Jun-sang was terrified.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Jun-sang, Kim Il-sung
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Our father, we have nothing to envy in the world.

Our house is within the embrace of the Workers' Party.

We are all brothers and sisters.

Even if a sea of fire comes toward us, sweet children do not need to be afraid,

Our father is here.

We have nothing to envy in this world.

Related Characters: Mi-ran, Kim Il-sung
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
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Nothing to Envy PDF

Kim Il-sung Quotes in Nothing to Envy

The Nothing to Envy quotes below are all either spoken by Kim Il-sung or refer to Kim Il-sung. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Propaganda, Misinformation, Deception, and Control Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

The red letters leap out of the gray landscape with urgency. They march across the fields, preside over the granite cliffs of the mountains, punctuate the main roads like mileage markers, and dance on top of railroad stations and other public buildings.

LONG LIVE KIM IL-SUNG.

KIM JONG-IL, SUN OF THE 21ST CENTURY.

LET’S LIVE OUR OWN WAY.

WE WILL DO AS THE PARTY TELLS US.

WE HAVE NOTHING TO ENVY IN THE WORLD.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

North Korea invites parody. We laugh at the excesses of the propaganda and the gullibility of the people. But consider that their indoctrination began in infancy, during the fourteen-hour days spent in factory day-care centers; that for the subsequent fifty years' every song, film, newspaper article, and billboard was designed to deify Kim Il-sung; that the country was hermetically sealed to keep out anything that might cast doubt on Kim Il-sung's divinity Who could possibly resist?

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung
Related Symbols: Television
Page Number: 45-46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

The propaganda machine launched a new campaign, playing up Korean pride by recalling a largely apocryphal fable from 1938-39 in which Kim Il-sung commanded a small band of anti-Japanese guerrillas "fighting against thousands of enemies in 20 degrees below zero, braving through a heavy snowfall and starvation." […] The Arduous March, as they called it, would later become a metaphor for the famine. […] Enduring hunger became part of one's patriotic duty. Billboards went up in Pyongyang touting the new slogan, "Let's Ear Two Meals a Day." North Korean television ran a documentary about a man whose stomach burst, it was claimed, from eating too much rice.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Kim Il-sung
Related Symbols: Television
Page Number: 69-70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Now, surrounded by sobbing students, Jun-sang wondered: If everybody else felt such genuine love for Kim Il-sung and he did nor, how would he possibly fit in? […] He was alone, completely alone in his indifference. He always thought he had close friends at the university, but now he realized he didn't know them at all. […]

This revelation was quickly followed by another, equally momentous: his entire future depended on his ability to cry. Not just his career and his membership in the Workers' Party, his very survival was at stake. It was a matter of life and death. Jun-sang was terrified.

Related Characters: Barbara Demick (speaker), Jun-sang, Kim Il-sung
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Our father, we have nothing to envy in the world.

Our house is within the embrace of the Workers' Party.

We are all brothers and sisters.

Even if a sea of fire comes toward us, sweet children do not need to be afraid,

Our father is here.

We have nothing to envy in this world.

Related Characters: Mi-ran, Kim Il-sung
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis: