56 pages • 1 hour read
Adam JohnsonThe Orphan Master's Son
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Why doesn’t Jun Do defect from North Korea when he has a chance, after the kidnapping of Rumina? Why does he instead decide to capture Gil and return to North Korea with him?
Names are very important in this book. Discuss the significance of the names of three major characters who have been “renamed”.
How are Wanda’s ideas of freedom different from Jun Do’s idea of freedom? How could you characterize freedom in the North Korea depicted in the book?
What is the significance of Sun Moon’s statement, “When the Dear Leader wants you to suffer, he gives you more”? How is this true in her life and in the life of Jun Do?
Why doesn’t the interrogator/biographer of Commander Ga believe Ga’s story, even when he is given evidence that supports Ga’s version of events?
What is the role of the official broadcast of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea in the novel, and in the lives of the country’s citizens?
What is the role of storytelling in this novel? Give examples of fictional stories that function as truth for the characters.
In what ways are the depictions of life in America accurate, and in what ways are they inaccurate?
Does Sun Moon truly love the new Commander Ga, or does she see him as method of escaping an oppressive government?
Throughout the book, there are references made to the retirement of loyal citizens to a fictional resort community on the beach. Where do these characters go instead, and why does the government promote the myth of a retirement community on the beach?
