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Terms
A Korean word for “tainted blood” used to single out individuals whose families’ prior sins—which might stretch back generations—make social mobility impossible.
Beulsun Quotes in Nothing to Envy
The Nothing to Envy quotes below are all either spoken by Beulsun or refer to Beulsun. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 15
Quotes
Dr. Kim was incredulous. Her entire life, her behavior had been impeccable. […] She was always the first to volunteer for extra work and to attend extra ideological sessions. Her father had come from China and still had relatives there, but Dr. Kim had never met or corresponded with them.
It had to be a mistake, she told herself.
Eventually the truth sank in. Comrade-Secretary Chung was stringing her along, exploiting her hard work and talent with absolutely no intention of letting her join the party. Even worse, Dr. Kim began to suspect that she was indeed under surveillance.
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Chapter 20
Quotes
Deep down, however, Mi-ran was the same person who had occupied the lowest rung of North Korean society, the poor, female progeny of tainted blood. She had been shaped by a thorough indoctrination and then suffered the pain of betrayal; she'd spent years in fear of speaking her mind, of harboring illicit thoughts. She had steeled herself to walk by the bodies of the dead without breaking stride. She had learned to eat her lunch, down to the last kernel of corn or grain of rice, without pausing to grieve for the children she taught who would soon die of starvation. She was racked with guilt.
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Beulsun Term Timeline in Nothing to Envy
The timeline below shows where the term Beulsun appears in Nothing to Envy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...watched carefully by his local inminban, or people’s watch, and reminded constantly that he was beulsun—a person of “tainted blood.” His status, he knew, was permanent and immutable, and any children...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...great happiness from writing him letters. They both knew—but never spoke of—the fact that Mi-ran’s beulsun would keep them apart in real life, and so they funneled all of their feelings...
(full context)
Chapter 14
...Jun-sang married, life would be extremely hard and hostile for them both because of her beulsun. Mi-ran was also worried about her job—she had only 15 students as opposed to the...
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