Genre
Autobiography / Memoir
Setting and Context
North Korea, in a prison camp.
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view is that of the protagonist, Shin.
Tone and Mood
Oppressive, unjust, angry.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Shin is the protagonist; the North Korean dictatorship is the antagonist.
Major Conflict
There is daily conflict between the prisoners as they try to get ahead of each other by ingratiating themselves with the guards.
Climax
Shin escapes from the prison camp and manages to make it over the border into China.
Foreshadowing
Shin tells the night guard that his mother and brother are planning to escape. This foreshadows their execution.
Understatement
The regime is called "a dictatorship" which seems to understate the sadistic and evil way in which they terrorize their citizens.
Allusions
Throughout the book Shin alludes to the history of North Korea and the dictators who have predated the current president.
Imagery
The imagery deals predominantly with the tortuous and brutal living conditions. In particular the way in which the prison under the camp is described enables the reader to imagine a dark and terrifying cocoon that is impossible to escape from.
Paradox
Shin is supposed to act as a spy on Park but ends up liking him and bonding with another human being for the first time in his life.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the propaganda perpetuated by the Kim regime in order to make themselves look better and the propaganda Shin perpetuates on himself in order to mitigate some of the things he did whilst at the camp.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Camp 14 is used frequently in the book to refer to all of the prisoners living there.
Personification
No specific examples.
