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 is loaded onto a bus with several other North Koreans and taken to Anseong, in Gyeonggi Province. She soon discovers that true freedom is terrifying, but she vows to make a good life for herself in South Korea. The facility is sparse, but clean, and she is given an allowance for snacks and a phone card. Hyeonseo immediately calls Kim, who is delighted to hear her voice. Next, she calls Ok-hee. Ok-hee arrived on a ferry and was processed much more quickly than Hyeonseo. She is already living in an apartment in Seoul. Then Hyeonseo calls Mother, who tells her about Min-ho’s new girlfriend, a lovely young girl of high songbun. Hyeonseo feels a sting of sadness. She will likely never meet Min-ho’s love.
The treatment Hyeonseo receives by the South Korean government reflects her rights as a human being. She has a right to clean and safe housing, and she has a right to try to make her life the absolute best it can be. The South Koreans make sure these rights are met, which is not the case across the border in North Korea. But at the same time, Min-ho is clearly comfortable and happy living in North Korea, and he doesn’t appear to have any plans to defect.
Themes
At the facility, Hyeonseo and the other North Koreans take classes on democracy and their rights, and they are warned about conmen who prey on asylum seekers. She is introduced to a priest and told that many North Koreans embrace the Catholic faith in their freedom. She also attends history classes, where she is taught the truth behind the unprovoked attack of the South that sparked the Korean War. Many of the North Koreans realize their country is bad, but they still find it difficult to accept the truth behind the war. For many, the truth is the “undoing of their lives.”
North Korean reluctance to believe the truth behind the Korean War again reflects how effective the ideological indoctrination is in North Korea, but it also reflects the North Koreans’ connection to their homeland. No one wants to believe that their government has perpetrated terrible atrocities, and being forced to face such things has serious effects on one’s identity.
Themes
In order to prevent the formation of North Korean ghettos, the South Korean government spreads asylum seekers throughout the country, and no one gets to choose where they go. Hyeonseo’s hopes to stay in Seoul are dashed when she learns that only 10 out of every 100 people are given housing in Seoul through a lottery system. She is given a number—number 11—and waits to be called. As the officer calls off the numbers selected for housing in Seoul, Hyeonseo is shocked and relieved to hear him call number 11.
The use of the lottery system suggests the South Korean government is at least trying to be fair in assigning housing to the refugees. The best housing—that in Seoul—is given out randomly, not based on one’s songbun or loyalty to the government as housing is allotted in North Korea.
Themes
