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 broker is no help in telling Hyeonseo where the Laotian police took Mother and Min-ho, but he thinks they are probably in Luang Namtha. Hyeonseo didn’t even know Laos existed, even though the country is communist and an ally of North Korea. She hails a cab and heads to the airport. It is Friday night when Hyeonseo arrives in Laos, and she must wait until Monday to go to the immigration office. The immigration officer is kind but distracted, and speaks to her in Mandarin. Yes, the officer says, two North Koreans were picked up at the border and brought to the immigration office.
Hyeonseo’s complete ignorance of the existence of Laos again illustrates how limited her education was in North Korea. North Korean children are taught very limited information about the outside world, even about countries like Laos who aren’t enemies of North Korea. Laos is a country that borders China and Vietnam in Southeast Asia, and Luang Namtha is the capital of the country’s northernmost province.
Themes
