Point of View

Each of the seven stories are told in third person limited, providing one character's viewpoint, experiences, thoughts, and emotions. This allows the reader to connect and become invested in what happens to the main character, and enhances the outrage felt on their behalf when they are routinely oppressed and abused by the totalitarian state. For example, the reader is made to empathize with Gyeong-hee's terror, Mrs. Oh's guilt, and Yeong-pyo's regret.

The author uses a few literary devices to provide the perspectives of other characters where needed to supplement the limited point-of-view. In “Record of a Defection,” we are given Myung-ok's journal entries in order to understand the events that the narrator, Lee Il-cheol, was not originally aware of. In “Life of a Swift Steed,” the author uses dialogue to illuminate Yong-su's motivations before his death, as he is not the primary narrator. Yong-su tells...