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’s school is kept warm with a large wood-burning stove, and the walls are adorned with paintings of a North Korean soldier stabbing a South Korean, an American, and a Japanese soldier with his bayonet. Ideological indoctrination begins immediately, and the children are told stories of Kim Il-sung’s heroics during the period of Japanese colonial rule. They are also told of Kim Jong-il’s birth, which was foretold by the heavens in the form of a rainbow over Mount Paektu.
South Korea is North Korea’s mortal enemy; however, America caused much destruction to North Korea during the Korean War, and the Japanese did the same during the colonial period, so they are despised nearly as much as South Korea. Children are taught early to hate all three countries.
Themes
Hyeonseo’s class sings songs about unifying Korea, and they are taught that South Korean children live in hovels, wear rags, and scavenge for food in the garbage. They are taught that American soldiers use South Korean children for target practice and that North Korea is the greatest country in the world. No one ever criticizes the school, and there are informers everywhere. Informers report on others to the Ministry of State Security, the Bowibu, or secret police. Citizens freely inform on each other, so there is no need for the Bowibu to spy. The secret police have little interest in crimes such as theft or corruption and are only interested in political disloyalty, for which entire families are known to disappear.
When Korea was divided in 1948, both the North and the South declared themselves the only true Korea and the only legitimate government. Many Koreans, both North and South, wish for the countries to reunite, but as neither side will concede that the other is legitimate, that seems unlikely to happen. North Korean children are taught negative things about Americans and South Koreans because it ensures they learn to hate them, but it also keeps North Koreans from defecting. No one will want to go South if they think they will have to live in a shack and eat trash.
Themes
During a visit back to Hyesan, Uncle Opium tells Hyeonseo a story about the lady in black, who comes down from the sky each time it rains. If you grab the lady’s skirt, Uncle Opium says, she will take you back with her. Opium is illegal in North Korea, but it isn’t hard to come by. Painkillers and other pharmaceuticals are rare, so opium is often used for its medicinal qualities. A gold brick sits on the table next to Uncle Opium, along with a lump that looks like tar. Uncle Opium tells Hyeonseo to take a bit on the end of her pencil and eat it. She does, and even though she is sick with a cold, Hyeonseo feels instantly better.
The story of the lady in black is obviously a metaphor for opium and the sensation of flying when one is high, but more importantly, the need for the opium in the first place and the scarcity of more appropriate and safe medications further illustrates the oppression of the North Korean people. Ideally, if the government made health care and medication accessible and affordable, people wouldn’t have to turn to opium and other illegal drugs.
Themes
