How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #4
Was this what family was, how it grew—straight as the children's teeth? Sure there was an arm in a sling and over time the grandparents disappeared from the photos. The occasions changed, as did the dogs. But this was a family, from start to finish, without wars or famines or political prisons, without a stranger coming to town to drown your daughter. (147)
Jun Do's first encounter with American-style families challenges his understanding of what families look like and how they operate. The pictures in the Senator's house tell Jun Do that children are not meant to suffer and starve—and that the only people who disappear over time are members of the older generation. In this reality, bad stuff happening is rare and a real tragedy—not the stuff of daily life.
Quote #5
There is a talk that every father has with his son in which he brings the child to understand that there are ways we must act, things we must say, but inside, we are still us, we are family... [My father] told me that there was a path set out for us. On it we had to do everything the signs commanded and heed all the announcements along the way. 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. (275)
Interrogator 6 reflects back on "the talk" given to him by his own father—but it's not the kind of talk you would expect. Living in a communist dictatorship surely reshapes the way families interact with one another, and this guy's father wants him to know that saving your skin by denouncing a family member doesn't mean you don't love each other. It's a horrifying reality—and a traumatic memory for the Interrogator—but one that is blindly accepted by many of the characters.
Quote #6
The bust and the man faced one another but bore no resemblance. He hadn't known what he'd feel when he finally faced this martyr, but Ga's only thought was, I'm not you. I'm my own man. (294)
Jun Do (acting as Commander Ga here) faces his namesake martyr. His encounter with Pak Jun Do's memorial bust in the cemetery is as close as he will ever come to meeting an ancestor, and yet he understands that there is very little affinity between himself and the man for whom he is named.