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
Hyeonseo spends her first night in Seoul in a general detention room with 30 other North Korean women. Violence occurs often, even though poor behavior can hurt their chances for South Korean citizenship, and one of the women even tries to steal Hyeonseo’s clothes. There is much talk of lesbians at the center, and everything happens there, including sex. Hyeonseo has previously had no idea that there are actually homosexual North Koreans. Until now, she thought homosexuality was a foreign phenomenon or a plotline from television devised for drama.
Of course there are homosexuals in North Korea; they just remain in the closet so they are not targeted and abused. Homosexuality isn’t technically illegal in North Korea—meaning there isn’t a law in existence that specifically prohibits same-sex relationships—but any sex deemed inappropriate or obscene in North Korea is illegal, and homosexuality certainly falls under that umbrella.
Themes
Two weeks later, Hyeonseo is moved to a solitary room, where she meets her interrogator. He is a kind man and tells her to write down as much of her story as she can, using as much detail as she can remember. After several days, the interrogator smiles and says he believes she is North Korean. He has been vetting people for over 14 years, he says, and can always spot a liar. Still, he claims Hyeonseo is part of the one percent. She arrived in Seoul, direct on a two-hour flight, without paying a broker. He asks if boarding the plane was her own idea. Hyeonseo tells him it was. “Then you’re a genius,” the interrogator says. The next morning, Hyeonseo wakes up relieved. It is the first night she hasn’t had a nightmare in over 11 years.
The kindness of the South Korean interrogator again suggests there really is compassion in the world, especially in places where people aren’t preoccupied with their own survival. It also implies that the officer accepts Hyeonseo as a Korean, not just a North Korean. Again, the ease with which Hyeonseo makes it into South Korea is not the usual experience for most North Korean defectors. Some journeys to freedom can take years. However, the fact that Hyeonseo has been experiencing nightmares for 11 years suggests her journey wasn’t really all that easy or quick; it’s been underway ever since she crossed the river out of Hyesan.
Themes
