How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
"You don't know how devious these North Koreas are," Pak countered. "Their whole society is based on deception. You wait, we'll tear this boat apart, and you'll know I'm right." (58)
The South Korean translator is working on his own preconceived notions about his slippery neighbors to the north. While Pak's assessment seems unfair (Jun Do is our hero, after all) and verging on prejudice, there's much truth in what he says. His distrust of the enemy at the border is not something the American naval officers can appreciate fully. All they can see is badly impoverished fishermen.
Quote #8
The Captain had told Jun Do that off the east coast of Japan the ocean was nine thousand meters deep, and now he understood what that meant. Witnessing the vastness of the Pacific—how impossibly monumental that you could row across it!—he understood how rare his radio contacts had been. (124-125)
Jun Do's world suddenly gets to be a much bigger place when he travels beyond the borders of North Korea. It's all a little overwhelming—if not downright depressing—to understand the distances between peoples.
Quote #9
Women were free to smoke in America and should not be confronted. Disciplining other people's children in America was not okay... With great discomfort, Dr. Song touched on American standards of personal hygiene, and then he delivered a mini-lecture on the subject of smiling. He concluded with dogs, noting how Americans were very sentimental, with a particular softness toward canines. (125)
For an American reading this, it's the stuff of comedy. But for an American to write it? Well, that takes some clever perception. It's sometimes easy to forget that Jun Do is merely a character written by Johnson, especially in moments like these. He really has to step out of the American mindset to get into Jun Do's and Dr. Song's in order to see Americans as they might be perceived outside their own borders. The bit about the dogs will return repeatedly, reminding us further of the vast differences between North Korea and most of the developed world.