Mother’s oldest sister, and Hyeonseo and Min-ho’s aunt. Aunt Old is a sad and lonely woman, and after Father is detained by the North Korean government when returning from a business trip to China, Mother tells Hyeonseo why Aunt Old is so sad. In the 1960s, Aunt Old married a Korean-Chinese man against Grandmother’s wishes. He grew tired of North Korea and wanted to go back to China, but Aunt Old refused, so he went back alone and was arrested by North Korean police before reaching the border and sent to a prison camp for life. To save the family’s songbun, Grandmother arranged a divorce for Aunt Old and put her three children up for adoption. The story of Aunt Old illustrates the lengths some people will go to in order to preserve their family’s songbun, a notion which has particular significance after Father’s own arrest.
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Aunt Old Character Timeline in The Girl with Seven Names
The timeline below shows where the character Aunt Old appears in The Girl with Seven Names. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The City at the Edge of the World
...Opium is a drug dealer, protected from investigation by his high songbun. The oldest sister, Aunt Old , is a lonely and sad woman, and the youngest is Aunt Tall. The most...
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Chapter 13: Sunlight on Dark Water
...During this time, Mother is tearful and sad, and she tells Hyeonseo a story about Aunt Old and her children, which Hyeonseo has never heard before.
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In the late 1960s, Aunt Old married a Korean-Chinese man against Grandmother’s wishes and had three children. Her husband soon grew...
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