Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl with Seven Names, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Oppression, Human Rights, and North Korea
Identity and Nationality
Family
Kindness
Summary
Analysis
The beginning of the road to Shenyang looks much like North Korea, but as the villages give way to suburbs and traffic jams, Hyeonseo can hardly believe her eyes. The road into Shenyang is an eight-lane expressway, and Hyeonseo has never seen so many cars in her life. Although Hyeonseo doesn’t know it, Shenyang is one of China’s biggest cities and is home to over eight million people. After much trouble, Hyeonseo and Mr. Ahn finally locate the address of her relatives and find a large skyscraper full of windows.
The entire population of North Korea is roughly 25 million people, so the sheer size of Shenyang at eight million is difficult for Hyeonseo to fathom. Furthermore, most North Koreans don’t own cars. Free travel and internal movement isn’t permitted in North Korea, so cars, which would make such a thing possible, aren’t permitted either. Plus, the people are poor and couldn’t afford them anyway.
Themes
Hyeonseo knocks on the door to the apartment, and Uncle Jung-gil and Aunt Sang-hee appear with huge smiles. Uncle Jung-gil is actually Father’s cousin who defected during the Korean War, and he is more than happy to see Hyeonseo. She explains that she wants to see China before starting college in the fall, and he gives Mr. Ahn money for his trouble before inviting Hyeonseo inside. The apartment is sophisticated and full of windows with a million-dollar view, and Uncle Jung-gil wastes no time catching up. He had no idea that Hyeonseo’s father died and is shocked to hear the news. He immediately tells Hyeonseo that everything she has been taught in school is a lie.
Uncle Jung-gil and Aunt Sang-hee’s immediate warmth and acceptance of Hyeonseo reflects the importance of family in North Korean culture, even that of extended family members. For all intents and purposes, Jung-gil and Sang-hee don’t even know Hyeonseo, but they are more than happy to open their home to her, even though aiding a North Korean defector can get them into serious trouble with the Chinese government.
Themes
Uncle Jung-gil informs Hyeonseo that South Korea didn’t really start the Korean War. It was actually North Korea that invaded the South, and, according to Jung-gil, Kim Il-sung would have lost badly to the Americans if not for China’s help. He then tells her that Kim Jong-il wasn’t really born at Mount Paektu but in Siberia, where Kim Il-sung was a member of the Red Army. Kim Jong-il isn’t even a communist, Uncle Jung-gil claims, and he eats fine cheeses and drinks expensive wines while his people starve. Then Jung-gil says that Kim Il-sung’s heart attack was Kim Jong-il’s fault, brought about by stress when former president Jimmy Carter came to negotiate the denuclearization of North Korea on President Clinton’s behalf. Kim Il-sung agreed, but Kim Jong-il refused, leading to Kim Il-sung’s heart attack.
Uncle Jung-gil’s negative comments are a shock to Hyeonseo because speaking in such a way about the Kim regime in North Korea is illegal and considered highly unorthodox and taboo. Because of ideological indoctrination, Hyeonseo truly believes the wonderful things she is told about the sacrifices of the Kim regime, and she believes the alternate history she is taught in North Korean schools as well, which makes the regime look good and the rest of the world look bad. Presumably, Hyeonseo thinks Uncle Jung-gil is simply an angry defector talking untruths about the regime; she has no idea that he is actually speaking the truth.
Themes
Hyeonseo can hardly believe Uncle Jung-gil’s claims, and she secretly wonders if he is crazy, but he seems nice enough. Plus, he runs a local trading company and is very rich. On her first night in Shenyang, Uncle Jung-gil suggests Hyeonseo adopt an alias, and they decide on Chae Mi-ran. Unlike Hyesan, Shenyang comes alive at night, and they go out to a karaoke bar, where Hyeonseo sings “Rocky Island” and no one cares. After five days, Aunt Sang-hee convinces Hyeonseo to stay longer, but by her 18th birthday, Hyeonseo knows she must return to North Korea. As Uncle Jung-gil prepares to drive Hyeonseo back to Changbai, the phone rings. It is Mother, and she warns Hyeonseo not to come back. They are in trouble, Mother says.
Hyeonseo’s unofficial alias of Chae Mi-ran marks her third name, which continues to have a major effect on her identity as a North Korean, and her place within her family specifically. With each name change, Hyeonseo becomes more and more confused as to who she really is. As Chae Mi-ran, Hyeonseo completely denies her North Korean heritage and adopts a Chinese identity. Hyeonseo’s ability to sing “Rocky Island” loud and proud in public illustrates the immense differences in social norms between China and North Korea.
Themes
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