Thursday, September 30, 2010
the gulags of north korea and the weakness of family
in the gulags of north korea shin was tortured into hating his own mother and now in some ways finds a life of freedom more difficult. what was most shocking was his hate for his mother and his mothers abandonement of him, how authority can destroy the mother and son bond and eradicate love. in those sitautions you discover the darkness of humanity how a group of people or one person can dominate its people in evil ways for their own greed and how when pushed those being controled dont really seem to bond together to cope with or fight oppression, how love and morals dissolve and they just fight to survive. you some times here those idealistic tales how people who stood together and form bonds stronger than the iron fist that rules them to survive or escape but here we learn that freedom comes from sacraficing friendships and friends aswell and it really is a bittersweet victory.
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I agree with you Elizabeth how amazing it is for the authorities in North Korea to even have the ability to shatter the bond within a family. In this context, I'm specifically referring to the bond such as family love. Shin, during the execution, had no emotions. He didn't cry because he had no love for her. No, rather, he hated her and even today the hatred does not go away for this guy. And how did this happen? It has been the way authorities have manipulated their people in the society. In the case of Shin, he has no hatred towards the way North Korea's society operates but towards his mother. He still thinks that because of her attempt to escape, it severely hurt him rather than giving him an opportunity to view the entire world, not just North Korea.
ReplyDeleteHey, a useful reference is the book I finished reading the other day:
ReplyDeleteBo Suk, LEE. Our Close Friend? Kyung-Ki-Do: Kimyoungsa, 2008.