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
Over the next few months, there are several more news reports of North Koreans storming other countries’ embassies in China looking for asylum. Hyeonseo thought people only left North Korea because of hunger or curiosity, not for political reasons. She remembers all the things Uncle Jung-gil told her about North Korea and wonders if he was telling the truth. Then, Hyeonseo discovers the internet and finds out what the rest of the world is saying about North Korea and knows her uncle was telling the truth. Ok-hee suggests they go to South Korea together, and Hyeonseo begins to consider it. In China, she will always be a foreigner. At least she can feel like she belongs in South Korea.
Hyeonseo and Ok-hee’s desire to go to South Korea and at least be on Korean soil reflects their deep connection to their homeland and the mark it has left on their core identities. The ideological indoctrination is so effective in North Korea, many citizens don’t even realize that they are being lied to and their human rights aare being denied, which reflects the power of the Kim regime and the control they have over the North Korean people.
Themes
Ok-hee has contact with other North Koreans, and she finds a broker, who, for $1,400, can provide them with the proper paperwork needed to get new IDs from the South Korean government. All they have to do is take the paperwork to the embassy, claim they lost their IDs, and get new South Korean IDs. Over the next few days, Hyeonseo gets ready to go to the embassy, but she is waylaid when a routine medical examination reveals that her blood sugar level is dangerously high. Hyeonseo is convinced she is dying, and she decides not to go to South Korea. She grows depressed and even suicidal. A month later, Hyeonseo has her sugar checked again, and it is normal. Apparently, the result of the previous test was due to lack of sleep and stress. Her depressions lingers for a few more days, until an event in Hyesan wakes her up.
Lee’s vague mention of an event in Hyesan suggests that something terrible is about to happen. Furthermore, Hyeonseo’s dangerously high blood sugar level implies that she is under serious stress planning the stunt to get into South Korea, or, at least, appeal to the South Korean government for asylum. Hyeonseo’s life is constantly in danger, and it is obviously wearing her down physically as well as psychologically. This, too, underscores the oppression Hyeonseo is up against as a North Korean defector in China.
Themes
