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 searches the internet trying to find Dick Stolp but is unsuccessful, until he finally sends her an email after her TED talk. She can feel herself healing after her long journey from North Korea, and she notices that even Mother cries less now. Mother still misses her siblings in North Korea, of course, but she too is adjusting. Mother even accompanies Hyeonseo and Brian to Chicago in America. If only Grandmother could see them now, Hyeonseo thinks, she wouldn’t believe her eyes.
Hyeonseo’s Grandmother was an ardent communist, and seeing her family in America would come as a particular shock to her. Dick Stolp is a large part of the reason why Hyeonseo is able to heal after her experiences in North Korea and later as a defector. Dick finally proved to Hyeonseo that good and kind people do exist in the world, a lesson she badly needed and greatly appreciates.
Themes
