Let's take a look at a specific scene in the novel ...
In one of the most poignant and powerful moments in the book, one of the interrogators remembers the way in which his father explained life in North Korea: "Even if we walked this path side by side, he said, we must act alone on the outside, while on the inside, we would be holding hands." What does the quote imply about the reality of living in such a repressive society? How does it speak to humanness in the fact of inhumanity?
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What about comparing Johnson's story to other novels ...
ReplyDeleteReviewers have drawn comparisons between "The Orphan Master's Son" and classic dystopian novels such as "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Brave New World." Are these apt comparisons? Does Johnson's fiction, which is based on fact, have a different impact from that of novels which center on invented worlds?