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.
Themes
Truth through Storytelling
The novel contains a number of examples of this theme, which ultimately shows that truth itself is subjective and constantly shifting. In each case, the truth belongs to the storyteller. The first stories that demonstrate this theme belong to the crew of the Junma. While he picks up frequencies on the radio, Jun Do makes up stories to try and understand the American rowers and the strange “sailors” who later turn out to be astronauts orbiting the earth. Later, the crew makes up stories to save their lives when American sailors board their ship and the Second Mate defects. Although it is revealed that the truth of what happened is known to the government, their outrageous story is more palatable to the North Korean people. The Dear Leader himself is a creator of stories; by writing scripts for Sun Moon detailing the struggles of a loyal party member in the hands of foreign enemies the Dear Leader reinvents reality to show himself and North Korea in a positive light, while portraying such as Japan, South Korea or the United States negatively. The interrogator also develops biographies of prisoners who are enemies of the state, although these biographies seem to have more personal than national relevance. However, even his careful attention to detail does not stop him from getting some of the facts wrong and thus recording things as true that are actually fiction.
Finally, the official state broadcast creates stories to inspire its listeners, most of whom must realize that the broadcast is a collection of lies. All truths are twisted and misrepresented to glorify North Korea and its people and demonize everyone else. The best example of this, of course, is the Best North Korea Story of Commander Ga and Sun Moon, which presents Sun Moon’s escape as an evil act of kidnapping by the Americans and Ga’s death as that of a hero who died loyal to his country.
Being Named / Being Nameless
Few characters in this novel are known by their given names. Most are referred to by another name, one that has been assigned them. Jun Do bears a martyr’s name that marks him as an orphan; Sun Moon is given her name by the Dear Leader, although its meaning is nonsensical in the Korean tongue; finally, the Dear Leader himself is given a name that evokes someone beloved and cherished by the people. Jun Do, of course, takes on the identity of Commander Ga—a man who struck fear into many hearts and was known for his use of brute force. As the new Commander Ga, Jun Do retains none of his namesake’s fearsomeness, although the name itself will come to be revered as that of a martyr.
Other characters have no names, but are known by titles and descriptions: the Captain, the Second Mate, the American rower, the interrogator. These are the very people that the photographer Mongnan is trying to catalog.
Individual Sacrifice for the Greater Good
This theme encapsulates the essence of a socialistic society; the greater good of the country is always the paramount concern, and individual citizens must endure personal injustices and inconveniences. The most celebrated members of the North Korean society appear to be its political leaders and its dead martyrs, each of whom has a name worthy of being passed down to future generations. The novel contains many examples of the ordinary lives citizens being interrupted so that they can participate in an activity related to the state, whether it is irrigating fields, celebrating the arrival of the Americans or being forced to kidnap innocent Japanese civilians.
The sacrifice of Jun Do/Commander Ga is made so that Sun Moon and her children will have a better future, something he is quite willing to do although he understands it will certainly lead to his own death. His sacrifice for Sun Moon and her family is foreshadowed by an earlier sacrifice—of his arm, which is attacked by a shark—to save the crew of the Junma.
The Interconnectedness of Life
Sometimes poignantly and sometimes comically, the various aspects of Jun Do’s life seem to return with new significance when he takes on the identity of Commander Ga. As Jun Do, he has Sun Moon’s face tattooed on his chest; as the new Commander Ga, he is officially recognized as her husband. He meets Comrade Buc on a plane to Texas; as Commander Ga, he is Buc’s next door neighbor and together they are united with the same group of Americans. Jun Do lives in the old canning plant that produced contaminated food that led to a number of deaths; Comrade Buc keeps some of the poisoned peaches from this cannery for his family as his “exit strategy” and offers them to Commander Ga as well. Jun Do listens to the American rower’s broadcast as she crosses the Pacific; as Commander Ga, he meets the captured rower in the Dear Leader’s underground bunker. Many more examples of interconnectedness and coincidence occur, creating the feeling that Jun Do/Commander Ga’s life is in fact controlled by a higher power, whether the state or his own destiny.
