Oppression

Oppression is used as a theme in the collection to demonstrate all of the various injustices and atrocities perpetrated by the North Korean government against its citizens. The major project of the book is to show the rest of the world what it is like inside a country that is notoriously repressive and secretive. The oppression includes the use of lies and propaganda, the expectation of absolute obedience, and draconian punishments like exile, forced labor, and execution.

Examples of this are prevalent, and some of them are artfully woven into the plot with literary devices. In “Record of a Defection,” Myung-ok compares the Party seal on her husband's file to an iron brand used on slaves to indicate her family's lack of freedom. More overtly, her husband decries the state's “tyranny and humiliation” when declaring the necessity for defection (34). In “City of Specters,” Gyeong-hee's family is...