Be sure to finish the book for Tuesday's class (or get close) so we can discuss the closing chapters. Remember to start thinking about Paper #3 (assigned posted in the post below this one).
Answer ONE of the following:
Q1: According to Harvard psychiatrist Judith Lewis Hermann, many concentration camp survivors have what she calls "a contaminated identity." What does this term mean, and how does it play out in Shin's post-camp life, particularly in America?
Q2: Though many North Koreans try to flee the country and make it to South Korea (where they share a language and a culture), they often have a very difficult time assimilating. Besides the freedom, what other cultural factors does a North Korean have to overcome to make it in South Korea? How does this suggest that (like Q1) escape is as much mental as it is physical?
Q3: The South Korean government will pay employers "up to eighteen hundred dollars if they risk hiring a defector" (167). Additionally, the US is very generous in granting residency and green cards to defectors, in the hopes they can put down roots and start again. Should other countries be so willing to take in defectors and encourage what could quickly become a mass exodus of North Koreans, particularly if their government collapsed? Should their problem become our problem?
Q4: Why does Shin ultimately give up on the US and return to South Korea? Does Harden look at his story as a "failure," either to assimilate or to escape his past? Does the book suggest he is on the way to becoming a true "human being" again, or is he still haunted by the camps?
North Koreans often have trouble assimilating into the South Korean lifestyle because of the different mentality these people live. South Koreans are worried about academics, while North Koreans are worried about how to not receive brutal beatings. These people live vastly different lives, and once thrown together they have trouble assimilating. North Koreans face other factors like learning to drive, paying for different things, having people to rely on and talk to, and just living a normal life. To truly escape from North Korea, you must escape the mentality of it all. Or else, it will torture you forever.
ReplyDeleteColton Cellars
ReplyDeleteI think that shin is still in "shock" of what he went through in camp 14 and in north Korea. He's went through to much to live in the U.S. Maybe he didn't want people asking him anymore questions. I think that he wasn't able to stay because even though he went through some horrific things, he still considered in home.
Dustin Foskey
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I think there is a constant culture shock for at least a year, when transitioning from one extreme way of life to a normal life style. The assimilation from a constant violent culture to the academically charged culture would be very strange. Also, you may escape physically, but the mental and emotional scarring will never leave. Which is partially why Shin went to a mental hospital for a while.
Ethan Hays
ReplyDeleteQ1: Concentration camp survivors are not used to being free and it is hard for them to understand the basic concept of human rights. That is why it is so hard for them to assimilate into the United States. We are allowed to do so many things that they wouldn't even think about doing in concentration camps, and that makes it hard for them to adjust.
Danielle Bailey (Sandra)
ReplyDeleteQ2: I think that North Koreans have so much trouble assimilating into the South Korean lifestyle because these two different groups of people live complete opposite lives. North Koreans live very brutal lives constantly wondering where they will get their next meal and when they will have to turn on someone in order to stay alive. Whereas South Koreans live more normal lives. They have to really focus on their academics but for the most part they have much more eased lifestyle and have family to help support them. North Koreans even after they escape never truly live "normal" lives because mentally they are still living with all the pain and suffering they have experienced.
Nathan Bain
ReplyDeleteQ1. When born into a concentration camp you are told exactly what to do every step of the way and if you don't you are beat and tortured. So if someone like this who has been through that for his or her whole life if they were to escape. They would be absolutely confused and no matter how hard they tried they chances of living normal live are very slim because they can never forget those things they've went through.
Cameron Corbin
ReplyDeleteQ1:A contaminated identity in the camp means that the campers in the concentration camp have a separate identity from the culture that even the camp itself is located within. Because Shin had a contaminated identity as a result of Camp 13, it was nearly impossible for him to become accustomed to life in America. It was hard enough for Shin to adjust to life in South Korea, which is much more similar culturally to North Korea than is America. In the end, America provided a lifestyle and economic freedom that Shin could not handle, as well as being a completely different culture from Shin.
Q2: North Korea is nowhere near as developed as South Korea due to their government. Escaping from a place that has brainwashed you and controlled every aspect of your life, and then going to a place like South Korea, is a major culture shock. You can't just magically get rid of that innate fear the government taught you. If you're still stuck in that place in your mind, you can't fully assimilate to a new culture no matter how accommodating they are.
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