How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
Pain of this nature creates a rift in the identity—the person who makes it to the far shore will have little resemblance to the professor who now begins the crossing... There's no way around it: to get a new life, you've got to trade in your old one. (181)
The Interrogator speaks rather coolly about the efficacy of torture with the autopilot. He speaks of it with admiration, as though the total erasure of a personality is a desirable thing. In his idealized world, it is. Undergoing such a change is like re-upping your passport with a new and better photo. In the Interrogator's mind, the subject can then move on to a productive life on a commune or other work detail. He will discover that the reality is quite different.
Quote #8
"I made it through winter, but afterward I was different. I can't make you understand what the winter was like, what that did to me. When the thaw came, I didn't care about anything." (196)
Jun Do/Imposter Ga tries to explain what happened to him in the space between entering Prison 33 as Jun Do and leaving it as Ga. Exposure to harsh winter elements has the same transformative powers as a torture session—he's pretty sure he doesn't want to live through another one. His reckless new attitude signals that he's getting ready to throw in the towel.
Quote #9
He dipped his paw in honey and brought his claws to my lips. Then the bear said, "You will learn to speak bear now, and you will become as the bear and you will be safe." (207)
In this uniquely North Korean fable, the bear symbolizes the Dear Leader, figured as the caring father of all orphans. Though the allegory is meant to be comforting, there's a level of creepiness in there, as well: the child will have to lose his own identity to conform to the life of the bear. His only alternative, as the rest of the story goes, is death.